


Richard & Belle - Con-Sensual

by AmethystStarr



Series: Richard & Belle - A Series of Stories and One-shots [3]
Category: British Actor RPF
Genre: Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Family Drama, Fluff, Romance, career fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 08:16:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 43,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5820973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmethystStarr/pseuds/AmethystStarr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another way things could have gone for Richard and Belle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The crowd went wild as Ame and Ben stood up and waved to the crowd. Their panel had just ended and they needed to clear the room for the next panel.   
“Holy crap!! I was not expecting that kind of reception. Sure I knew we had fans of the band, and fans of the show, but not that many!!” Amethyst Starr said as she exited the stage on Ben Browder’s arm.   
“I told you. Why do you ever doubt me?!” He said wrapping the arm she’d been holding around her neck and kissing the top of her head like big brother’s are apt to do.   
“Fran’s right, I should never doubt you, ever. I should never doubt either of my brothers except when they try to squash my dreams,” Ame eyed her little brother Sam.   
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” the auburn haired young man said casting a sidelong glance at his older sister and adopted big brother. He’d not known Ben as long as his sister had, but they’d become close after working together on his sister’s original sci-fi series. Ame had met Ben back in his Farscape days when she’s still been going by her real name Belle, or as she’d been christened among the Stargate crew as Joesie-Belle. It had been Ben’s fault the nickname had come about and subsequently stuck after he got her a few small walk-on roles in a few episodes of Stargate. He’d even introduced her to Aaron Craven, whom she’d dated for awhile after until they mutually decided their personalities didn’t quite jive enough to be in that kind of relationship. However, they had remained friends afterward. After all the time she and Ben had spent together with him in her make-up chair or helping him get fitted for costumes, they’d gotten to know each other very well and had even been adopted into Ben’s family as his little sister. Now it was a regular family affair as they worked together on her original science-fiction series she’d come up with a few years after Stargate had wrapped the franchise. Besides having worked in makeup and costuming, she’d also written episodes for a few tv shows, done some major theatre both on and off stage and was currently the front woman for the band Death by Glitter, which she had opted to create her alter ego for, hence her name change to Amethyst Starr. But to Ben, Sam, and most of her family, she was still Belle.  
“Hey look, we’ve actually got some time before you two have to be at out at the Walk of Fame. How about we swing by the Green Room?” Sam said, looking up from his iPad as they were headed out the back corridor of the ballroom. Just as Ame was about to answer, a female handler, dragging her poor celebrity guest by the arm of his jacket, slammed her into the door-jam on her right as she hurried to get her ward inside the ballroom so the fangirls would leave him alone.   
“Why don’t you watch where you’re going, punk-ass kid!” she muttered, glaring daggers at the pink and purple haired singer. The man she was dragging behind her tried to stop and apologize but his handler’s vice grip had him nearly tripping over himself and all he could do was offer her a plaintive smile and mouth ‘sorry?!’ as he disappeared around the corner. HIs deep blue eyes more than made up for the woman’s behavior as he smiled back at her as recognition dawned on her. She tried to regain her composure and not look too much in pain as something between a stupid love-sick grin and a grimace played on her face as she stared back at the empty air where he had been standing when he smiled. OMFG! That was Richard Freaking Armitage!!! All could have easily been forgiven had he been the one to plow into me. In fact I would have bloody well gladly taken the pain if it had been him. Then the pain actually did hit her.   
“Bloody FUCK, that hurt!” Ame swore, rubbing her injured arm and wincing at the pain she felt. She would be greatly surprised if she didn’t end up with a monster of an ugly bruise on her shoulder and arm by the evening concert.  
“Hey, what happened back there? Are you ok?” Ben asked coming back to find her. He and Sam had stopped when they realized she wasn’t with them.  
“I’m fine. Just some asshole of a handler slammed me into the metal doorframe back there. It fucking hurt. She wouldn’t even stop long enough for her poor guest to offer an apology for obviously rat-assed bastard of an attitude; she even called me, and I quote, “a punk-assed kid”.... I’ll be alright in a few, but bugger it all if I don’t feel sorry for him now!” Ben gently touched the arm he’d seen her rubbing and she hissed and pulled away. “Don’t touch it, it fucking hurts, moron!” she said, punching him in the arm.  
“Yeah, my bad, shoulda realized. C’mon, we’re getting you some ice, alcohol, and somebody to look it over and make sure you didn’t break anything. We don’t need you falling apart the first day of Con!” Ben replied, slipping a hand around her waist to guide her. He knew she had a very low pain tolerance with all the medical issues she’d had to deal with throughout her life, so he was protective of her.  
“You know me so well, alcohol before help,” she grinned at him. “Now you know why I quite being a PA agent.”  
“No shit, thank God we have Sam and Bernard now. Even JCB couldn’t have been that rude, I don’t think, and you know how much of a pain in the ass she can be sometimes,” Ben laughed. Sam just groaned.  
“Miss Who-the-fuck-do-you-think-you-are-sitting-at-this-actor’s-table-with-him? Not her, surely!” Ame joked.  
“We are never, ever going to let her live that one down, I can promise you that!” Ben said, as Sam took up a defensive position on Ame’s opposite side from Ben so no one would run into her and hurt her worse.  
“And now I know why she avoids me like the bloody plague!” Sam mused. Ame and Ben both laughed.  
“Believe me, it’s a blessing in disguise.” Ben commented as they turned into the closest Green Room to the Walk of Fame.  
“You took the words right out of my mouth, Brother!” Ame added. They made their way to the private bar at the back of the Green Room Hospitality suite at the Hyatt and Ben sat Ame and Sam down while he got someone to get drinks, ice, and an EMT to check out her arm. Copious amounts of alcohol were needed if Ame was going to be able to sign any autographs in the next couple of hours. As she sat there, wincing and rubbing her arm, she grinned over at her younger brother, “You’ll never guess who that handler who ran me off the road was handling!”  
“Ohh, who?!? Do I know him?”  
“You know of him, anyway,” she answered, still grinning.  
“Aww, C’mon sis, just tell me. You know I’m rubbish at guessing,” Sam moaned.  
“Richard Frakking Armitage,” Ame enunciated as Sam’s eyes grew wide.  
“No way! And you didn’t fawn all over him?? Good on you!” Sam gushed.  
“Oh please, I’ve resigned myself to being the spinster of the family, and you know it, hon. Besides, I think he took one look at me, my hair, and my costume and wrote me off as an attendee or worker rather than a guest. Probably wouldn’t take a second look at me if he were here right now, other than to be a proper English gentleman and apologize profusely for the bitch’s rudeness. Plus, I must have looked beastly after that run-in.” Ame said.  
“Maybe, but he hasn’t seen you out of your persona yet. You might be surprised!” her little brother replied.  
“Whoah, wait a minute! Hold the phone! My little brother, the Dream Bubble Popper just admitted he might have been wrong?!” Ame was shocked. Sam glared at her,  
“Ok, now that’s not fair. For the record, when I originally said that neither one of us was in a position to even meet him, let alone get you two together.”  
“Yeah, you win. Sorry,” Ame admitted.  
“Who are we getting together?” Ben said returning with drinks and an EMT with ice for Ame. “Let him take a look at your arm.”  
“I told you I’m fin-FUCK!” she nearly shouted and sprang out of her chair as the EMT gently pressed his fingers in her upper arm and shoulder socket. She bit her bottom lip to keep a string of English and Geek cuss words from escaping.   
“So who are we getting together?” Ben repeated as the EMT had Ame preoccupied with not causing a scene.  
“Ame and Richard “Thorin” Armitage,” Same replied, ducking as Ame tried to throw the ice bag at him.  
“One of these days, Sam!” Ame said through gritted teeth.  
“How’s about we put this to better use,” Ben said taking the ice bag from her and plopping it on her shoulder, smirking when she winced before taking her good hand and squeezing it. “Serves you right, trying to off our handler. With him gone we could be stuck with that demon woman…” She squeezed back much harder  
“...Or worse, Tammy!” all three of them shuddered at Sam’s words, then all three cracked up laughing at the joke.  
“So, you still have a thing for Mister Oakenshield, do ya?!” Ben whispered, winking at her.  
“If I wasn’t enjoying this drink so much as an elixir for the pain you seem desperate to have me endure at the hands of Rescue Ken Doll here, I’d throw it in your bloody face, you wanker,” Ame replied coolly, taking another long drink, her eyes only slits as she glared at Ben playfully above the rim of her glass.  
“It’s not his Oakenshield she’s after. It’s his Orcrist!” Sam said, trying not to laugh. Ben roared and even the EMT had to stifle a laugh. Ame glared at all three men.   
“Why don’t you be a nice Ken Doll and go get me another drink whilst I castrate my brother’s here.”  
“You’re gonna have to keep that arm in a sling for a while. Just sign here that you’re waving your offered and suggested trip to the ER and we’ll be done,” the EMT Ken doll replied. He turned to Ben, “I still recommend taking her to the Emergency Room to get that looked at by an actual doctor in this situation. There could be deeper internal damage and it might need immediate treatment.”  
“Is it that bad?” Ben asked, concerned wiping the smile from his face.  
“It could be. I’m not a doctor, so I can’t tell you for sure either way, it’s just a precaution I recommend you taking.” Ame signed the form and Ben handed it back to the EMT before turning back to her.   
“What?! I’m fine, it just hurts a little. I should be fine signing, then I’ll rest ‘til the dinner and concert tonight.” When Ben started to open his mouth to protest, she shut him up again,” Don’t you try and change my mind Ben, I’m here for the fans, this is just a little hiccup. I’ll be fine.” Ben and Sam both knew it was useless to argue with her once her mind was made up, but they kept quiet about it. “By the way Sam, I will kill you so hard you will die to death if you ever say that about myself and Armitage again.”  
“You still remember that?” Ben said, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.  
“How could I forget, the entire crew was in stitches for a whole quarter of an hour over that one. Hewlett’s face was priceless, as was Amanda’s,” Ame started to laugh, “best ad-libbed line ever, I can’t believe we all held in the laughter until after Peter called Cut!”  
“Do you still carry that fake lemon around in your bag?” he asked.  
“Of course I do, I never miss an opportunity to rag on him about it. I even bought one and painted a wee Canadian flag on one side for him; complete with ‘Love from Joesie-Belle’ on it!”  
“Nice!” Ben remarked. Ame took another medicine cocktail before heading to the walk of fame. After only half an hour, her arm got too painful and she had to quit, with a promise that she’d do her best to extended her WoF hours on Friday to accommodate those who didn’t get a chance to get their pictures or autographs. Ben had Ame taken to the hospital while Sam handled the details for the extension of her time slot on the WoF the next day. He hadn’t been pleased with what the doctor had to say about her arm. It wasn’t broken, but it was severely sprained with some bone and tissue bruising. She’d need to wear a sling for at least a month if not two until it healed. He prescribed some pain meds and ice before releasing them to return to the convention. What a way to start out her first Dragon*Con as a celebrity guest.

Richard Armitage was being literally dragged to and from his appearances around Dragon*Con, not guided gently like his normal handler at premieres usually did. Dragon*Con was proving to be a very different experience than Comic-Con had been as it was spread over multiple hotels and buildings in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Handlers were different, backstage proticol was different, panels were pretty much the same, but there were so many things to see and do that he felt like he was going to go crazy. Maybe he’d have to tell Andy to say no next time they invited him, but this was the 5th Anniversary of the release of The Hobbit and they were doing a huge Tolkein reunion. As a fan of Tolkein and an all around Nerd, he’d wanted to be a part of it, even if it was at a convention he was unfamiliar with. It was only the first day and already he felt like he’d done more walking than he ever had in his life! There were some things he liked about this convention and some that he didn’t and he was already pretty sure what one of things unlikable things was. But then he’d ran into Her and his whole attitude had changed. He’d hoped he would have another opportunity to see Her again and he was getting that chance, in one of the least likely, or so he thought, places on Earth. He was back in his room now, changing for the guest dinner early that evening and all he could think about was the minor debacle that had occurred that morning, when he’d seen Her again. At least he was fairly sure it was Her. And what had his handler done, but plow headlong into the one woman he’d wanted to see more than anyone else in his life, slamming Her back into what looked to be a very hard and very painful metal door jam. His handler had even had the audacity to be downright beastly to Her. Before the incident there had been two occasions he’d stopped to visit with a fan or two and she’d all but pushed them away after he’d offered to take pictures with them, one of which was with an incredibly accurate Thorin in BotFA armour that he himself had wanted a picture of. He’d wanted to reprimand her about it, but hadn’t gotten the chance to do so. He’d finally been able to after the incident with Her. Tammy, as he’d found out was handler’s first name, was taken aback when he’d said something about it as they waited backstage for his next panel to start. She’d all but shut up around him and had been much more accommodating afterward. When he’d tried to apologize to the young woman his handler had accosted, there had been something in the way her eyes flashed and curve of her lips, her outfit and her hair had him uncertain at first, but he’d suddenly recognized Her. He’d seen she wore a guest badge and hoped that she would be at the dinner that evening. It made him nervous as hell without any idea why. Pull it together, Armitage. You’re a professional, not a schoolboy. Decorum, and English gentlemanly conduct, and bloody hell, don’t overdo it. He’d reminded himself as he dressed in the blue suit he’d brought. He also wondered if she’d recognized him in that moment, or if she even would at the dinner if he were lucky enough to see Her there.

That evening Ame had chosen to wear a one of her more recognizable outfits, a purple chiffon and sequined one sleeve dress that fit her curves perfectly and stopped just at the knee. She’d hoped that the gathered chiffon of the sleeve would hide the bruises from this morning’s incident. She entered the room on Ben’s arm, but was soon left to her own devices once Claudia Black and Chris Judge entered. Both greeted her warmly and exchanged pleasantries, but soon the conversation had turned to Chris and Ben catching up and she and Claudia had excused themselves to get a drink and so Ame could tell Claudia about the morning’s incident without getting Ben or Chris riled about it again. Claudia could barely believe it when she’d heard the story, but she began to wonder if that hadn’t been the same woman Ben had had issues with before, though she never voiced as much to Ame. Ame’s hair and makeup was already in show mode for the concert later than evening. However, she soon found herself, Claudia. and Nichel Nichols discussing “Fashion and the Sci-Fi Woman”, a panel they had together later in the lineup, at table in the middle of the room. They were deeply engrossed in a discussion about “winged eyeliner” when a tall, thin shadow fell over the table between Ame and the legendary actress.  
“Excuse me, Ms. Nichols, Ms. Black, but might I steal this lovely lady away from you for a few minutes?” said a chocolaty baritone voice Ame immediately recognized as belonging to none other than Richard Freaking Armitage. Ame caught the look exchanged by Nichel and Claudia before her old friend winked at her and gave her her best Vala smile.  
“Ms. Starr, may I have a few moments alone with you?” Holy fuck, did he really just say that and does he really not know what is most assuredly going through Claud’s mind over there?! Yes, I see that smirk, Ms Black!  
“Of course you may, Mr Armitage,” Ame said, rising and taking the arm he offered. They walked a little away from the crowd.  
“Look, I’m just gonna come out with it. I don’t know if you remember me, but I needed to come find you to apologize for my handler this morning, she had no excuse to treat you the way she did, especially after ramming you into the door frame like that-By the way, are you alright?” he asked, his fingers brushing her right arm. Ame tried not to wince, but she was pretty sure that was an impossibility with how much her whole arm was throbbing at the moment. “Oh God, she did hurt you. If there’s anything I can do-”  
“No,” she said a little too quickly and forcefully, before softening to his expression, “I’m fine, really. Just a few bruises. I heal quickly,” their attention was briefly distracted as the MC announced dinner and asked that everyone begin making their way to their seats.   
“Listen, I’d like to start over, if we could. I’d like to talk to you more if I may, unless…” you’re with someone else, he wanted to add. “Could we maybe get a drink or coffee this evening after dinner?”  
“I have a concert to do tonight, I have to leave the dinner early,” she said as she started to turn away. She stopped and thought for a moment, which made him noticeably squirm. This may be your only chance to actually talk to him, it’s now or never and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t! “We’re at the Marriott, you could come by our suite after the concerts over, I’ll make sure to have coffee ready,” she winked and turned to go back to her table with Claudia and Ben. She noticed he followed rather closely behind her and sit to a table just to left side. His seat allowed him a perfect vantage point from which to observe her interactions with the other’s at her table; including Ben. Just before dinner was over, she excused herself from her friends, to get ready for the concert, he assumed. She had to pass him to get to the exit and as she did, she slipped a piece of paper into his breast pocket and squeezed his shoulder, whispering, “I look forward to seeing you later.”  
When the dinner was over and the staff had given out their thank-yous and welcomed everyone to the Con, Richard made his way back to the Marriott Marquis to find the ballroom in which Ame and her band were performing. He arrived to find their group just coming out on stage and he found a little secluded corner from which to watch, even snapping a few pics and videos. She was not at all the soft spoken woman he’d just spoken to at dinner, this was someone far different. There were no inhibitions with this different woman, except for maybe whatever she was doing with her right arm, but he couldn’t blame her for that. He was rather amused by her band and how they made light of popular music, the different genres they all liked and even made fun of themselves. Their style was extremely varied and sometimes very ballsy as they mixed unusual instruments with some re-workings of classic songs or popular favorites. Their rolling commentary was spot on and the crowd completely ate it up. He almost felt like he’d walked into a rave, or at least a rainbow party of some sort. The band was colourful and covered in glitter and so was the crowd, he was surprised he wasn’t covered in the same when he returned to his room. At the end of Death by Glitter’s set Abney Park joined them onstage and the two bands did two songs together, the best of which was an anthem that Ame had written just for Dragon*Con a few years ago. It was aptly named “Down to the Con” set to the tune of a rocked out “Ants Go Marching Along.” She’d re-written the lyrics to fit with several fandoms and apparently everyone who was a fan of the group knew all the words to it too. Both bands were having a great time singing it too. When Ame and her gang left the stage, Richard took that opportunity to return to his room and change. He’d checked what time the concert was supposed to be over and set an alarm for it on his phone. He took off his suit and opted for jeans and a t-shirt after making sure there wasn’t any glitter to be found on his person. He had to admit, their band was aptly named and he made a mental note to ask Ame about it later. He rummaged through schedules to find the program book for the con, as he’d learned to call it. He’d heard at the concert that there was a write-up about Ame in it and he was interested in knowing more. To him she was Her, and having had met before, he was desperate to finally remember where, but he couldn’t wrack his brain hard enough to figure out where and when that had been until he read the article. She’d been the writer and director of a play that was featured alongside The Crucible, his show, at a theatre industry exposition in London. He’d been fascinated by her then, though she’d looked very different and gone by a different name, and he was still very much fascinated by her now. They’d first seen each other at a roundtable discussion for Period Themed pieces, and they’d been seated across the table from each other. He’d not been able to keep his eyes off her, finding himself a bit smitten even from the very beginning, and had listened intently to all of her well thought out, very intellectual answers despite her appearing so young. He even noticed that when he’d catch her eye, she’d shyly blush and smile, then lower her lashes, only to glance back at him. That had been how they’d been introduced. Later that day she’d received an award for Best New Original Play of 2014 and he’d been frustrated that he had to leave early for the theatre and wouldn’t get to speak to her afterward. Luckily as he was leaving, he spotted her with some fans congratulating her on her win. He’d veered off momentarily to heartfeltly tell her it had been a pleasure meeting her, offering a firm yet tender handshake that he’d not wanted to let go of. She’d replied that the pleasure had surely been hers before he found himself being pulled to the door by his agent. They’d shared something in that brief moment and he’d glanced back to catch her watching him leave, sharing a tender smile as he’d disappeared through the doors. It was very much a North and South moment, for both of them  
Richard read and re-read the article until the alarm on his phone went off. He grabbed his leather jacket, sunglasses, and credentials and as he passed the mirror, he realized with the sunglasses on he could pass for Danny Zuko from Grease. He made the necessary modifications to his hair, popped the collar of his jacket, then continued on to the lift, replying to a text from his friend Lee that no, he wouldn’t be joining him, Ian, Martin and Amanda for drinks that evening, that he was otherwise engaged. He knew Lee and Ian had seen him talking to Ame at the guest dinner and he hoped they’d understand. He hit the lift button and a few seconds later the bell sounded and a group of bobby-soxers and greasers tumbled out, singing “You’re The One That I Want” at the top of their lungs.  
“Hey, Danny! Ya missed the sing-a-long! It was wicked awesome, man!” a guy dressed as Kinicki said.  
“Damn, maybe next time!” Richard said in his best American accent.  
“Sure thing, man. Catch ya later!” the guy replied, throwing him the thumbs up gun, before slicking the sides of his hair back.  
“Later!” Richard answered, throwing him back the same gesture, minus the hair slick.  
“Wow, he made a great Danny, I wish he had been at the sing-a-long,” one of the girls said.  
“Nah, too skinny,” said someone else, before they all picked right back up with the song. Richard smiled to himself as he double checked the paper Ame had slipped into his pocket at dinner, his first impromptu closet cosplay, as he’d come to understand it was called, at a convention had been a success. And nobody even recognized him. He could get used to this, maybe. He laughed at himself and the group he’d ran into as he exited the lift and headed to Ame’s suite.   
When Ame opened the door Richard was taken aback and his heart skipped. She looked so much different than when he’d last seen her that he almost didn’t know what to say. Hey, glad you decided to join me. I was beginning to wonder if you weren’t coming, if maybe I’d scared you off or something. Don’t mind the mess, costume changes are mini-combat zones for my family,” she said as she ushered him in, “just have a seat anywhere while I get the coffee,or would you prefer wine?”  
“Actually the wine sounds really good right now,” he replied. He needed something heady right now, something maybe even stronger as he ran his hand through his hair. Get ahold of yourself, Armitage. Why am I so nervous?!   
“It does to me too, though I may need something stronger before the night’s over, damn that crowd was wild tonight. By the way, take your jacket off, put your feet up, and stay awhile,” Ame said as she uncorked the wine bottle, a slight American Southern twing tinging her accent.  
“Where’d you say you were from again?” he asked, tilting his head slightly, surveying her.  
“Born in Sydney, Australia, but I’ve spent most of my life between Texas and Florida. I did live for a time in London, Notting Hill to be exact,” she laughed.  
“Don’t mind her, she loves doing that to people, freaks ‘em out every time too. I think she gets some kinda demented thrill out of it, I daresay,” Sam said coming out of one of the bedrooms dressed in his Tenth Doctor suit.   
“What’s a masters in Theatre good for if not to freak a few people out with my modicum of accents and pratfalls, after all…”  
“Death is easy, Comedy is hard!” Ben and Ame said together.  
“Richard Armitage, meet my crazy brothers: Sam Starr and Ben Browder,” Ame said as she adjusted Sam’s tie and collar.  
“Nice to meet ya,” Sam said with a wave. “We’re headed down to try and talk Claudia and Chris into guesting on Kali,” he said to Ame.  
“Keep an eye on Ben, you know how he gets when he and Chris drink,” she said to Sam.  
“Hey! It’s me! You know what a careful guy I am!” Ben said, arms akimbo. He just happened to be dressed as Indiana Jones.  
“He’s adopted!” Sam said pointing at Ben.  
“So are you, Shorty!” Ben replied. Sam stuck his tongue out at him.  
“Yeah, I know what a careful guy you are, which is why I said it. And nice use of the quote, Doctor Jones. You and ShortRound have fun and be safe. We’ve got the auction tomorrow and I don’t need Ben with a hangover!”  
“Play with you no fun!” Sam said, imitating the kid from Temple of Doom.  
“Bye, and have fun stormin’ the castle!”  
“Hey, I get that reference!” Richard said as the other two men left the suite.  
“Yeah, but you didn’t play that role.”  
“True, thanks for rubbing it in, Sexy-er I mean Idris.” While they’d been conversing, he’d had time to study Ame and her new look. Ame’s auburn hair, the same colour as Sam’s, was pulled up into a curled ponytail tied with white “Police Box” ribbon. Her stage makeup, piercings, and tattoos were all gone, with no sign of where they had previously been, and instead of her usual purple, she wore a TARDIS dress with matching knee-hi socks, and blue and white hi-top Converse sneakers. Have I just found my nerd-bride?! he thought to himself.   
“He calls me Sexy!” she giggled, handing him his glass, fingers brushing his, before she poured the wine for them.  
“So you’re a Whovian too?” he said, taking a sip.  
“How could you you tell, it’s the accent isn’t it?” they both laughed. Ame tucked her knees under herself. “What?”  
“What what?” Richard replied, suddenly caught. He knew he’d been staring again.  
“What’s with the look you’ve been staring at me with this whole time, and that snort just now? What are you thinking?”  
“Huh, oh, nothing really, it’s just you look very different from when I saw you last.”  
“Oh, yeah. I just got rid of the persona aesthetics.”  
“Aesthetics? You mean you don’t wear that stuff all the time?”  
“Ha! Nooo!! I do not wear it all the time. Besides, it’s too tiring to do that, it’s sorta like wearing a costume. Out there, I’m officially in character, in here, I can just be me. I guess I should tell you my real name’s Belle, not Amethyst. Amethyst Starr is a rockstar, a character persona for me. Belle Starr is just a music loving nerd who happens to write award-winning plays, books, and music, but I don’t like to toot my own horn. When God gives you a gift, you have to use it any way you can. I’ve got a knack for that kind of thing, so I had our band come up with personas for ourselves as a way to kinda be a wee bit wild. Amethyst likes the limelight and being onstage with her band or the cast of a show. Belle would rather work backstage. Give me a cool comfy room with the necessities and plenty of supplies and let me create til I run out of food or die, whichever comes first. Behind closed doors, so to speak, it’s a ‘fuck if I care’ kinda attitude, but at least in here I don’t have to worry about consequences or my reputation when it’s just me and the family.”  
“I’m the same way. I can go for weeks without going out or cleaning so long as I have the essentials. Kinda gross, I guess, but it’s just me, so…and if the fans don’t like it, so what, they just don’t have to like it, however, it’s our personal lives and none of their business, right...” he laughed. He really liked this woman, and was pleased that she was so frank.  
“Absolutely, and I do the same! But sometimes I go into what Sam calls OCD Cleaning Mode and start binge cleaning. He hates it when I get him to help, but he’s usually happy with the after product. Drives our parents and sisters crazy,” she smiled. God, her smile is gorgeous.  
“I bet. You two seem to be a lot alike. I like your family so far,” he paused, swirling his drink to keep from staring at Belle again. “So Ben...you and he aren’t…?” he asked from underneath lashes and raised brows. Please say no, please say no!  
“Ben?! No way, he’s married with kids. We’ve just been friends for forever. Back when he was on Farscape and I was still doing makeup and costuming. He really is like my big brother, plus we’re all three working on my sci-fi show I created. Kaliope, the one Sam mentioned earlier. It’s one of the reason’s he’s sharing a suite with us. Plus Sam’s acting as our handler, so it was kinda easier for all of us to share two suites between the whole family.”  
Speaking of handlers, that’s one of the reasons I came to see you. I wanted to apologize again for the way she treated you. I reprimanded her for it, but I’m not sure it meant much to her,” Richard offered, touching Belle’s arm. “How bad did she hurt you anyway, I noticed you were favoring it during the concert....” his voice trailed as he saw her expression.   
“Nothing that ice didn’t fix…” she said.  
“C’mon, you don’t have to lie just for my benefit. Tell me the truth...please?” he coaxed softly, running his fingers over her good arm. She was justly reproved and nodded. From behind a pillow she pulled the sling the doctor had given her to wear.   
“Well, considering I’m supposed to be wearing this and not using my arm for anything...I guess that might explain it. Ben, Sam, and Dad were furious with what the doctor had to say...damn thing…” she said, struggling to put the stupid thing on.   
“Here, lemme help…” Richard moved closer to her on the sofa and helped her with the strap over her head. He brushed her hair back from her shoulder and his fingers ghosted over her skin as he adjusted the strap.  
“Kinda ruins a costume, doesn’t it. Will you help me keep it a secret? I don’t want the fans knowing about it and getting all into an uproar like they tend to do,” she asked, sheepishly picking at the edge of the ugly black arm wrap. Well, she was a tough cookie, he had to give her that.   
“Of course! I know how fans can be. But I don’t think anyone else noticed during the concert, I only did because I knew it happened. I’m still upset about it, she needs to be dealt with over this somehow…” his blood was beginning to boil and Belle noticed his brows knitting together.  
“Please don’t blame yourself. It was an accident,” she said softly, placing a hand on his thigh as he reached for their glasses again and poured them both more wine.   
“I don’t blame myself, I blame her. But I am mad at myself for not making her stop and check on you or dealing with it when it happened. That does make me mad!”  
“Who is your handler anyway? Now that I’ve had time to think about it and recall her face, I’m pretty sure I know who it was and I wanna double-check.”  
“Her name’s Tammy-”  
“Tammy MamaDuck Larrabee. Dear God, you poor poor bastard,” she said, patting his leg again. He raised an eyebrow,  
“Lemme guess, that’s the I’m in hell, or soon going to be kind of bastard, right? Your expression scares me, but I think I need to know why you say that. I mean, I feel like I might be seeing my life flash before my eyes soon…”  
“Oh you do, you really do! Believe me! So first, is this your first time to Dragon?”  
“Dragon? Oh you mean the convention. Well, first Dragon*Con, but I’ve been to Comic Con in New York and San Diego and a Wizard World once, does that count?”  
“Oh Sweetie, Dragon is in a category all it’s own. Also, today’s only Thursday. You had it easy, first day’s usually tame. Tomorrow starts Friday, and that’s a whole other can of worms and things get crazier. Second question: how long are you here for?” she still had her hand on his leg and he put his over it, loathe to move lest she take it away.  
“Actually and quite surprisingly, the whole convention, though I’ll be in Atlanta til Wednesday. How about you?”  
“Same, actually. But moving on, you’ve got two options. You can take your chances with her, or first thing tomorrow morning you can see if you can get a new handler, maybe they’d let Sam do it, or maybe Bernard or Danielle. You may wanna do the latter once you’ve heard what I have to say,” she let go of his hand to take his glass and refill them both. “You’re gonna need this, trust me.” It was the first time he’d noticed the label on the wine, a Kiwi Pinot Noir. For a fleeting moment he wondered if he needed to run for the hills because she was more of a fan than she was letting on, or if she just had good taste in wines.  
“Ok, you have me scared now, but your taste in wines is comforting,” he led. She took the bait,  
“Thanks, you can take the girl outta the Australian South Pacific, but you can’t take the Australia out of the girl. I’m a sucker for a bloody good Aussie and Kiwi vintner; and I always keep at least two or three on hand,” she laughed, then turned serious again. He relaxed fully then and took a long swallow of the wine. “Now back to the very serious topic at hand. Tammy is widely known for her escapades. She may have been somewhat tame today, but she won’t be tomorrow. At some point she will come on to you and try to sleep with you before the end of the convention. If that fails, she will get you pissed and then try to sleep with you. If that too fails, she will get you pissed and make-out with you, at which point you will probably wake up naked with her next to you and that is not a good thing!” Richard visibly shuddered, and pretended to throw up. Belle continued,  
“Do not accept any beverage from her. I don’t care if it’s sealed, consider that shit poison. Also, do not accept any drinks from Buddy Christ, but that’s another story.”  
“Oh God!” Richard said, shaking his head.  
“You wanna go take a biohazard shower now, don’t you!” Belle tried not to giggle at his sickened expression.  
“I take it you’ve been here before.”  
“Well, this is my first year as a celebrity guest. It feels so weird coming as a guest after all the years as just an attendee. But yes, I’ve been coming since ‘06. I’ve also worked every aspect of staffing this convention and I can say without a doubt that I do not envy any of them doing those jobs! But running a fandom track is kind of nice, actually. I run the Disney Track with Ashley Eckstein....But in all seriousness, if you wanna hear a first hand account of Tammy and her multitude of sexual favors she brags she’s given, just ask Ben.”  
“Oh God! Not the Tammy horror story again?!” said a voice from the adjoining suite’s door.   
“Holy Fuck, Dad! Don’t sneak up like that, you scared the shit out of me! You know better than the surprise me when I’m telling that particular horror story! And Jenna, don’t repeat anything I just said,” Belle said after regaining her nerves. “By the way, Richard, my Stage-Dad Zack and little sister Jenna. Guys, Richard Armitage.” she motioned to the respective parties.   
“Wait, THE Richard Armitage? The one you’re always talking about? That Richard?” Zack asked, sticking his hand out to Richard, who took it.  
“Yes, Dad, that Richard.” Zack held his hand captive.  
“Alright then, what exactly are your intentions towards my daughter. No sex, no making out on the first date, and no getting handsy! Also no spontaneous breaking out in Thriller at the drop of a hat...oh wait, that’s me. Nice to meet you!” Zack winked at him. Poor Richard had the deer in headlights look, but soon it melted into an unsure smile.   
“Nice to meet you too...I think…”  
“Live Long and Prosper!” Zack replied, giving him the Vulcan hand gesture.  
“Oh for the bloody love of cheese, Zack! He already thinks our family’s crazy enough, I don’t need you helping my case right off a cliff!”  
“I love you too, sweetheart. Do we have Richard to thank for getting you to put that sling back on?”  
“Oh, she already had it one when I got here,” Richard lied. “And, you can just relax, love. I like your brand of crazy. I could get used to it at least,” he said with a chuckle. “Not like my family’s really any different!”  
“Sorry to throw water on this love fest, but can we please get to the real reason we’re here: Major Costume Malfunction!” Jenna said, holding up her fairy wings, one hanging limp from the back piece as she pouted.  
“Oh no! Pirate Fairy down!! C’mere, let’s see if we can’t tinker our way to fixing these, shall we?” Belle said handing her wine glass to Richard and taking the wings from her little sister. “Go grab my emergency repair kit from my room, then you can grab a coke while I fix ‘em.” Jenna ran to get the kit, which was actually a neon pink tackle box covered in rhinestones. “We’ll have you stitched up and flying in no time!” In just a few minutes, after explaining every little thing she was doing to her sister who watched intently, the wings were all fixed and she was ready to fly. “See, easy as pie!” Jenna put them on and ran around the suite. The adults all laughed as she pretended to fly.   
“Now, off to Neverland! Come, Crocky!” Jenna said heading for the door.   
“Aye, mistress. Coming!” Zack answered her in his best pirate crocodile voice.  
“Wait, you’re not coming too? I thought you were gonna come down with us.”  
“Let your sister rest. Besides, she and Richard are talking, we can just meet your other brothers and sisters downstairs,” Zack said. Jenna looked like she wanted to cry as she turned to go. Belle looked from Jenna to Richard,  
“Wait...Jenna’s right, this is your first major con and I did promise to see it with you. If Richard doesn’t mind joining us, he’s more than welcome to come with us. After all it is his first Con too...unless you’d rather not. With you in the Greaser costume, I think you’d make a pretty good Danny Zuko and we might not get noticed after all, that is if you’re game to come along. At least we can still talk.”  
“Well, seeing as how I wasn’t recognized except as Danny Zuko by the cast of Grease I ran into on the way up here, I’m game to risk it if you are,” he replied, taking a comb and slicking his hair back before putting his sunglasses back on with his jacket. “How do I look?” Belle grabbed a little blue fez with a blinking light in it and a pair of Tardis Window shades,  
“Like the bee’s knees, Armitage!”  
“Then let’s do this thing!” Zack said, linking his arm with Jenna. With her good arm, Belle linked hers with Richard’s,  
“To Oz?” she asked.  
“To Oz!” he replied. They all laughed and headed down to the main floor to meet the rest of the family.   
They met up with Sam, Ben, Cassie, Cali and Cali’s husband Josh. Once introductions were quietly made in a remote corner of the lobby’s lower floor, the group headed into the dealer’s room to scope things out before walking the halls. Somewhere in the middle of the dealer’s room floor, Richard took Belle’s good hand and laced their fingers together. When Belle looked at him questioningly he leaned over and whispered in her ear.  
“Didn’t wanna get lost in this sea of sharks. These crowds are something else. Not to mention those girls over there are eyeing me like a wolf eyes it’s prey!” Belle shook her head smiling, amused at his overtly subtle way of getting closer to her as his nose brushed against her ear. She smelled like sunshine and roses as he inhaled her scent deeply. For a moment he imagined what a relationship with her might be like. She dug in her bag and handed him a flask,  
“Here, this might help if you’re feeling a bit anxious...wait,” she took the flask back, unscrewed the lid and knocked back a swig before handing it back to him. He took it and did the same as Belle gave him and encouraging smile.  
“Holy F--What the hell is in that?” he sputtered.  
“Did she share the Hairy Chest with you?” Ben asked, clapping him on the back. “It’s a real kicker, ain’t it. Even I don’t know what’s in it, but I sure like it!”   
“Damn, I learn something new about you every minute, Belle.” Richard said, smiling at her after he’d regained his composure with another swig. The second time round, he’d been able to taste a heady smoked cherry flavor, with a hint of vanilla whiskey that burned just right on the back of his throat. For a moment he wondered if that’s what she tasted like if he were to kiss her.  
“You like that?” Belle asked, smiling with a sparkle in her eyes that he could see even behind her glasses. He grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together again before bringing it to his lips,  
“I do, very much,” he kissed her hand and smiled down at her as a blush crept over her face and shoulders. Belle worried over her bottom lip before swallowing hard.  
“I really meant the liquor,” she said softly. He seemed to laugh to himself,  
“I like that very much too,” he answered, just as softly. Suddenly he felt as if he’d known her his whole life and needed to relearn everything about her. He wanted to know her thoughts on every subject, her likes, her dislikes, her fears, her dreams. Strangely, he also found himself wishing that maybe he might just be one of those dreams. He’d never been one to put stock in fairytale endings or love at first sight kind of moments, but he thought he might just need to revisit those topics again. He took another swig and they continued on. Belle bought Jenna a custom Pony bag and as they continued on Richard was flabbergasted to find a woman selling bespoke geek suit jackets like the Star Wars one his friend Bryan Fuller had worn to Comic Con a few years ago. He took the opportunity to buy one for himself of course since his numerous attempts to sweet-talk Bryan out of his had failed miserably. When he saw that the woman was also offering dresses in the same fabric, he talked Belle into buying a 40s style corsetted halter style dress in the same fabric as his jacket. They put them on and posed for a picture as Belle’s siblings laughed and ultimately bought something for themselves at the same booth too. Ben had to have the Stargate jacket and Cassie and Cali bought Disney princess corsets while Zack bought an old school Mario vest and bowtie. After leaving the dealers hall, they headed up to find seats for the kids and teens costume contest in which Jenna and Zack were entered as a Pirate Fairy and her enchanted crocodile first mate.   
As they sat there, Ben nudged Sam,  
“Ya know none of us had to really do any work here,” he nodded towards Belle and Richard, “It just happened all on it’s own, and surprisingly enough, I think it’s scared the shit out of Belle, especially owing to how fast it happened. I mean did you see him kiss her hand earlier?!” Ben grinned. Sam’s eyebrows flew up,  
“What?! I must have missed that,”  
“Yeah, it was right after he tried the whiskey.”  
“But if he hurts her, I’ll rip him to shreds, you know I will!” Sam said, clenching and unclenching his fists.   
“Slow down, Sammy. I don’t think we have anything to worry about just yet. Just look at the way he looks at her. She just might be a little oblivious to the fact he already has feelings for her too. We gotta watch them and make sure nobody interferes or messes this up for either of them.”  
“Agreed, I know she says she’d be happy as the spinster aunt, but I know she wouldn’t be. She deserves to be happy like that, with someone who loves her as much as we do. If the public get’s a hold of this it could ruin everything.” Sam replied.   
“We need to tell Zack, Bernard and Danielle ASAP.” Ben nodded.  
Though Jenna didn’t win, she was still happy to have participated after she’d done most of the work on both hers and Zack’s costumes. Belle and Richard let the others go their separate ways after the contest, but were followed by Ben and Sam at a safe distance, just in case something were to come up. They wandered through the crowd admiring costumes and talking before heading back up to Belle’s suite. Before they reached the lift bank, a group of Whovians asked Belle to join their big group photo. Richard took her phone and pulled out his own to take pictures for the both of them. It was sheer luck that no one recognized them and they were able to ride the lift back up alone.   
“So what does your schedule look like for the con?” Richard asked, slipping an arm around Belle’s shoulders as she leaned her head against his shoulder. She felt comfortable with him, safe even, something she’d only been able to feel within her family group. She had history that had scarred her for things like that. She shivered and yawned,  
“Not sure. I do know there’s the big charity auction in the morning, then Battle of the Bands in Ballroom G over at the Hilton, after that I’m not sure. We can look at the schedule when we get back to the room,” she yawned again. “Damn, I don’t remember being this tired on a Dragon Thursday before.”  
“I can’t remember having a nicer time at a convention before,” Richard mused as they walked from the lift bank to Belle’s suite. Halfway there she ducked under his arm and around behind him to hug the wall and clutch at his other arm.  
“What was that for?”  
“Sorry, the height’s getting to me. I didn’t think you’d appreciate me collapsing in a dizzy, crying mess in the hall here. I love this hotel, but hate that the suites are all the frakkin way at the top of the hotel!”  
“You have a fear of heights?”  
“Not so much a fear as severe vertigo and anxiety, maybe a fear of falling from great heights, but mostly vertigo, I think.”  
“Ok, so no dates on top of the Empire State Building, check,” he laughed squeezing her hand. “I have the same issue with water. Nearly cost me some major roles too.”  
“But the final products were spectacular.” Belle said, squeezing back.  
“Aha, so you are a fan!” Richard laughed, his eyes wide and sparkling as he gently poked Belle in the ribs as she opened the door.  
“Ow! No poking! At least not in the ribs. Find somewhere else to stick those long fingers,” she smirked.  
“Oh-ho, she’s a naughty girl too. My day just keeps getting better and better,” he said, closing the door. He slipped his sunglasses and jacket off again as Belle took her hat, glasses and sling off, tenderly moving her arm as she looked through some papers on the counter.   
“Aha! I found it!” she said, holding her schedule up triumphantly and taking a step back. Richard was standing so close she tripped on his foot and feel backwards into him. He caught her with arms around her waist,  
“Easy there, love. You really are having a case of vertigo, aren’t you,” he soothed, easing her down into a chair. Her head was spinning and throbbing, but his concerned gaze seemed to ease it, despite making it difficult for her to talk around the growing lump in her throat. He smiled softly at her.  
“I don’t think it’s just the vertigo,” she all but whispered.  
“Neither do I…” Richard replied, gazing deeply into her blue-green eyes framed in natural, but ridiculously long eyelashes. Belle closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to straighten out her spinning mind.  
“Uh, hey. Gimme your phone and I’ll take a pic of my schedule and you can compare it to yours,” she finally said, breaking his gaze. His hands on her knees as he kneeled in front of her made her shiver again. He handed his phone to her after unlocking it and she snapped an image of the piece of paper. She managed to get his hands resting on her knees in the frame too. Suddenly they were both imagining how easy it would be for him to slip those long fingers under the hem of her dress and…  
“Put your number in there too, so I can call you when I get back to my room,” he said, clearing his throat as he rose.  
“So soon? You play fast and hard, don’t you!” She said with a toss of her ponytail, trying to distract herself from the thoughts in her head.  
“Well, I want to see you again, hopefully tomorrow, and I need to make sure our schedules will allow that,” he sighed and kneeled back down in front of her. “Look, can I be honest for a minute?”  
“MmmHmm. Please do,” Belle replied.  
“So here’s how it is. I couldn’t stop thinking about you after this morning, I’m pretty sure we’ve met before, I just can’t seem to remember exactly where, a similar setting I think, but now that we’ve spent time together, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I wanna see more of you...in the future, that is, not the other way...I mean the other way would be nice-” Belle put two fingers on his lips.  
“But I’m in the entertainment arts industry too, isn’t that breaking some kind of rule about dating a colleague?” Belle replied. Richard chuckled,  
“I’m willing to risk it if you are. Besides, you’re not a fellow film actor and we haven’t ever worked together. If this goes where I’m hoping it will, we can work around schedules. For now I’ll leave you and call you in a bit,” Richard said, rising and taking his phone back.  
“I look forward to that call,” Belle said rising.  
“No, you stay seated, I don’t want you collapsing again. Or better yet, go lie down and I’ll call you in a bit; I can see myself out.” With that, he pecked her on the forehead and left, stopping to smile back at her as he closed the door.  
Belle was left to hyperventilate on her own. When she was sure that her legs and balance would keep her upright, she took her schedule and bag and went to her room. She took off her casual costume, hung up her new dress, and put on a tube dress she’d made to sleep in. Lounging on her bed, she heard her family come back all chattering and laughing. Her sisters stuck their head around the door.  
“So, any kissing yet?” Cassie asked.  
“You know she’d never kiss and tell, Cas!” Cali said, gently punching her sister in the arm and slipping past her into her older sister’s room. “But just to be sure, Richard really is interested in you isn’t he? I don’t trust the boy’s tales.”  
“Well if what he said before he left this evening was any indication for the future…” she worried her bottom lip with her teeth, a grin playing on her face. Suddenly her phone began to play the Throne Room theme and she bit down on her lip.  
“Is it him?” Cassie squealed.  
“Answer it! Don’t leave him hanging!” Cali said, grabbing Cassie’s arm and dragging her to the door, “I’ll remove the screaming meemee!” Cali winked and pushed her other sister out the door, closing it firmly behind her. Belle looked at her phone and slid the green circle over the unknown number,  
“Hello?”  
“Hello Sexy, or have you changed personas again?”  
“Depends, who do you want me to be, shall you like to be my Doctor?” She could hear Richard chuckle deeply.  
“Oh I was most definitely right about you being a naughty one, wasn’t I?”  
“Apparently only with you, it seems. You bring out very dangerous and naughty tendencies in me Mr. Armitage!”  
“So what are you wearing now?”  
“So what about that schedule you promised?” she countered.  
“Damn, I tried anyway. Sent, by the way, check your texts.”  
“Got it...hmm, lemme see, we had to extend my Walk of Fame time by half an hour on either end so...nope, can’t do that, maybe...no, that won’t work either...well damn, tomorrow’s not going to work after all.”  
“Not acceptable, Ms Starr. Let’s see, you get done at 7, I get done @ 7:15. We can meet for dinner, or better yet, we’ll order room service, your room, it’s bigger on the inside, but most definitely my treat. Will the family be there?”  
“I could always banish them...or we could switch to your TARDIS, Doctor. I believe I can trust you to keep your hands, and other parts, to yourself. I mean you are a proper English gentleman, aren’t you, Mr Armitage?”  
“You trust me? he asked, all joking aside. Honest surprise in his voice.  
“Well, yes. You were honest with me earlier, now I must be honest with you. I’ve asked around about you, from people who’ve worked with you. Everything they’ve said makes you out to be a very straight-forward bloke with a genuinely honest and sweet nature about you. Very lovely things indeed, if you ask me. So yes, I do trust you.”  
“Wow...sorry, it’s just that, all joking aside, I had no idea...I mean, it’s a little embarrassing to hear you say that in that way.” Embarrassed by her own admission, she tried to get back to the subject at hand.  
“So dinner, in your room, your treat and no funny business. I think we can manage that. Should I bring anything?”  
“Just your geeky self, love,” he replied, laughing a little.  
“That’s almost too easy, lemme at least bring a bottle of wine or something,” she snorted.  
“If you must. Bring something unusual, I’m in the mood to try something new,” he answered. As if asking her to come to his room for dinner wasn’t something new for his highly-routined self.   
“I’ve got just the thing, and there’s even two bottles left,” Belle offered.  
“Perfect, I look forward to seeing you then...by the way, what are you wearing?” he cheekily tried again.  
“Goodnight, Armitage,” Belle replied, trying not to laugh.  
“Oh c’mon, not even a little hint?” he sighed, feigning exasperation.  
“Goodnight, Richard,” Belle said softer, a smile tinging her words.  
“Goodnight, Belle. See you in my dreams.” Belle slid the red circle across the screen of her phone before entering his contact info on the number. She sighed, then giggled to herself. How is this even my life?! She knew one of two things was had to happening: 1) She was going mental and imagining that Richard Fucking Armitage was furiously flirting with her, or 2) He was really, truly interested in her and one of her long time dreams she’d all but given up was finally coming true. Just don’t screw it up, Belle; this really could be your dream come true. She heard whispering coming from outside her door and she crept to open it wide, her sisters nearly falling into her room. “So all three of you have stooped to eavesdropping, have you?! I’m ashamed of all of you, especially you, Jenna. Isn’t it passed bedtime anyway. To bed, all of you!” She tried to be stern, but she couldn’t help smirking at them and shaking her head as they slunk back to their room.


	2. Deuce Dragons and a re-acquaintence

Richard lay on his bed, unable to sleep. He toyed with the idea of answering the myriad of texts from Lee, Ian and Martin. Most of Martin's were lewd, each with a least one “fuck” or “fucking” in them. Lee’s were more normal like “Who is she?”, “Have you kissed her?”, and his favorite “Can I have her number?”. There was no way in hell Lee was getting Belle’s number. Lee always had a way of stealing women Richard was interested in then putting them off when they didn’t meet his expectations, leaving them uninterested in having anything to do with any of his friends, least of all Richard because they usually ended up blaming him for introducing them to Lee in the first place. Ian on the other hand, had seen Rich’s picture of the two of them and liked Belle’s look, suggesting that Richard bring her to the Tolkien party on Saturday night. That was an idea he might actually consider if everything tomorrow night went smoothly, but only after he’d be sure to give Lee a severe talking to. Richard really liked this woman and he didn’t want to screw anything up with her. There were few women in their respective industries that were still family oriented and it gave him hope to watch her interactions with her own. He wasn’t getting any younger-wait, whoah! What are you thinking Armitage? She hasn’t even been on a date with you and you’re thinking about starting a family with her?! She was gorgeous, yes, and old enough, but maybe a little on the young side, and making a family with her would be fun and plenty pleasureable. Suddenly he realized his body was beginning to betray the places his mind was wandering to as he scrolled through the pictures he’d taken at the concert. Her smile was infectious and the last picture he’d snapped of her was of her wearing the corset dress she’d bought and him wearing the matching suit jacket that he’d bought at the same time. He had to admit, they did make an adorable couple. Your thinking too much into this; just get through tomorrow night, then you can take one step at a time if she’s willing to walk with you. His body was aching, his need apparent, and he sought relief, or at least release. He gripped himself tightly and found himself crying out her name as his release washed over him. That night he dreamed of Her...Belle.

The next day seemed to fly by as both Belle and Richard went through their schedule. Once Richard was able to, with the help of his new handler Danielle (another one of Belle’s adopted sisters), drop a coffee off at Belle’s Walk of Fame table just before her rescheduled autograph session. Belle had to smile when she read the little note he’d written on her mocha strawberry latte.  
“He calls me Sexy,” she giggled.  
“What’s that?” Ben asked, only half paying attention.  
“Oh nothing,” she replied, sitting down and beckoning the first fans from the line. She went through her schedule smoothly, only having two drinks to help with the arm pain. She’d refused to use the pain meds the ER doctor had prescribed to her as she had enough experience with meds and hated having to depend on them to live, but it was just a fact of her life, unfortunately.  
That evening as Belle got ready, she contemplated Richard’s latest text, “Don’t dress up on my account. I want you to be comfortable tonight.” Ok, comfortable, not dressy. This was gonna be harder than she thought. She wanted to look her best, sexy even, just for him, but she had to admit, she did need to be comfortable and not stress her arm injury more than necessary. She chose a soft black skirt and a teal tshirt. Just before 7:45 there was a knock at the door. She smiled when she opened it to find Richard standing there. He grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.  
“Somebody’s impatient,” she said.  
“No, I thought I’d pick you up,” he replied.  
“Come in, I was just grabbing some shoes,” she said, returning to her room.  
“Family out?” he asked, leaning against the counter.  
“Yeah, the younger ones went to the rave, the others are at dinner with friends,” she called back.  
“Ya know I realized on my way up that I forgot to give you my room number.”  
“That could have proved difficult for me to get there, good thing you came to pick me up,” Belle said. Richard turned to see her in a lavender sweater, her hair down around her shoulders and his breath caught in his throat. He licked his lips. She could wear a paper bag or potato sack and still manage to look radiant.  
“Wow…” he breathed.  
“Oh hush, I just threw this nothing on and the sling hides most of it anyway, bloody ugly thing! Besides, you said comfortable, right?”  
“Yeah, I did, but I still think you’re beautiful... You ready to go?” he extended his hand to her and she took it,  
“MmmHmm.” They left her suite and made their way to his room. When he opened the door she could hear soft music playing and the lights were low with candles at intervals in the room. Belle was flattered that he’d gone to such lengths to make her feel like she was special to him.  
“Confession time again. I didn’t really know what you like to eat, so when I ran into Ben this afternoon, I asked him what you might like. So for appetizers we have cheese and lobster fondue. And for dinner, hawaiian chicken with fruit chutney rice and au-gratin potatoes. And of course for dessert, my personal favorite, double chocolate mousse cake. Sound appealing?” Richard had pulled her chair out and motioned to each course.  
“It does. But I think I need to self medicate first. Crack open that wine I brought, won’t you,” Belle replied.  
“Absolutamente, ma cher,” Richard said with a slight bow and French accent, making Belle giggle. He opened the wine and they enjoyed it over their appetizers. “So I figured out where we’ve met before,” he said after a while.  
“Oh, and where was that?” she asked, finishing off the last of her fondue as he switched out their plates for the main course.  
“Do you remember that Theatre London Expo back a few years ago? 2014, I think it was. We were both on a round table panel about period themed pieces.”  
“How could I forget, we won an award and subsequent Tony the next year thanks to that expo,” she got a far away look, almost haunted, “Those were the only highlights of those years for me,” she said softly, then suddenly changed her expression. I don’t need to burden him with that story just now. “Yes, I do remember that we met then. I’d wondered if you’d remembered yesterday morning,” she said, a little smirk playing on her lips. He definitely caught the smirk, the little minx. She’d known, she just wanted to see if he remembered or not.  
“Ya know, truth be told, I never forgot that look you gave me as I left. You made an indelible impression on me then,” the look in his eyes was tender as she met his gaze. It penetrated into her heart, as if he could look into her very soul with those overwhelmingly gorgeous eyes. “It’s one reason I wanted, no needed to see you again this weekend. There were so many things I wanted to tell you then. How amazed I was by your skill and writing and directing. For a young newcomer to the field, you really had everyone wowed. Yael, our director for The Crucible was impressed as well…” They talked about her show, how she’d written it and why, and how much time she’d actually spent doing all the research to make it fit the timeline of that part of the war in the locations it took place in. Her original Colonel from the workshop stage was actually an old professor friend of hers that taught military history and had helped in the research and accuracy of the historical details. Richard remarked how all her friends seemed to be male and if he should be worried and she laughed, saying how petty and complicated other women could be, especially in their industry and in her age bracket unless they were married or had been partnered with someone for a long time. Her only true female friends were either her sisters or someone who worked for or with her; or they were older and most definitely married, like she said earlier. She hated with a passion how catty single women could be, especially at her age.   
“How’s your arm?” Richard asked after a discussion on how men could be just as petty and complicated. They agreed to disagree about the subject.  
“Better, the extended autograph session was a bugger, but the coffee helped, thank you for that. Plus, I wasn’t about to cancel on those waiting again. I used to hate it when I was one of those people waiting to meet a celebrity or author and they’d end up canceling or cutting off their line early, so I’m sure not going to do that myself, unless it’s a dire necessity and even then I’m gonna do my best to make it up to them somehow. Handlers don’t usually like it and some have called me a bitch for it, but when I come to a convention, it’s not about what I can get out of it, networking and the like, it’s about my fans, or fans of the projects I’ve worked on!”  
“I agree, I hate doing that too, but I guess I need to work on trying to be a little bolder when it comes to agents and handlers.” Just then his mobile rang, “Speak of the devil...just a sec-no, this time he can wait,” Richard smiled evilly as he hit the red ignore button.   
“One small step,” Belle laughed.   
“Indeed,” he replied. Belle snorted a laugh and Richard laughed at her.  
“You sound just like Chris!” she laughed.  
“I love your laugh!” Richard said, grinning at the way she blushed.  
“I’m a nerd, it’s comes with the territory. We’re known for our rather obnoxious laughs,” Belle answered.  
“See, and I love how you’re not afraid to be geeky too! Not many women in our industry are as vocal about it.”  
“Um, hello, have you learned nothing from coming to conventions?!”  
“I guess not, I don’t usually see much of a convention, or hang out with people other than those I’m there with for a panel regarding some show or film. Like this weekend, if I’d not run into you, I’d just be sitting on my arse in my room or out with the guys getting shitfaced, and that’s not always a smart thing to do at an event like this...too many people with cameras.”  
“You’re telling me! And by guys you mean Ben, Lee, and Martin?”  
“And Ian, Andy, Elijah, Sean and Jimmy. Graham had to cancel at the last minute. But all they usually do is is get pissed and act idiotic and I usually end up leaving early!” Richard laughed.  
“Surely not Ian, he seems much too dignified for that. As a matter of fact, so do you, actually.” Richard laughed again,  
“You’d be surprised, love…”  
“About Ian or you?”  
“Both! See your much more fun to be around than they are. Actually, with your sense of humour, you and Amanda would probably get on well. She’d older and most definitely partnered.”  
“We might at that. I’d love to meet your friends sometime,” she said, placing her napkin on the table. She picked up her glass and moved to the window.  
“These windows don’t bother your vertigo?”  
“No, for some strange reason it doesn’t. I just love the night, it’s when the lights look like stars fallen to earth and still sparkling, or like a jeweled necklace against the black velvet of the night sky…” Belle said, her fingers touching the glass. Richard followed her with his eyes, she had that far away, haunted look in her eyes again. It filled him with an overwhelming & longing need to hold her and protect her. He picked up his glass and the wine bottle and carried it over to the window to fill her glass.  
“Are you always this poetic?” he asked softly.  
“The night covers things, doesn’t it. Darkness makes it so we can’t see the things we don’t want to see, about the world, about ourselves. It hides the ugliness…” The coldness in her voice made her sound like a whole different person and it scared him. Her eyes were wide with something akin to fear or fear of remembrance in them.  
“But without the darkness, we cannot see the stars…” he mused, his hand softly resting on the small of her back. “Hey, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. You can tell me, ya know, I won’t judge, I promise,” Richard took her glass and set it on the side table, then turned her to face him. “Earth to Belle…”  
“Huh?! Oh sorry...I was just...I dunno…” she said softly. Richard played with the curl just below her ear as he swept her hair back off her shoulder.  
“Where were you, love?”  
“Sorry, I did...see a ghost, that is. A ghost of another life,” she whispered.  
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked softly, caressing her face with his fingers. She caught his arm with her good hand and lightly brushed her lips over his fingers, noting his intake of breath and gentle sigh.  
“M-may I kiss you?” His voice was barely audible, but it caused her to gasp as her gaze met his. “I’m sorry, I’ve overstepped my bounds...I just-” he took a step back, but Belle caught his arm.  
“No. You haven’t. It’s just that no one’s ever asked me that before...they’ve always just done it. It’s refreshing to be asked so earnestly like you just did...Yes,” she whispered the last, closing the gap his retreat had created.  
“I’m sorry?”  
“I said yes. You may kiss me...please kiss-” He didn’t need to be told twice as he gently lifted her face to his, hands on either side of her face as his lips ghosted first over her cheeks, then settled softly on her lips. Her hands rested on his chest as he kissed her. She whimpered a little as he gently pulled her against him and slightly deepened the kiss. A moan escaped Belle’s lips as Richard sucked on her bottom lip. They didn’t hurry, didn’t let their passions become unbridled, just relished in the sweetness of the moment. It had been so long since either of them had kissed or been kissed this tenderly; and it wasn’t long before they’d lost track of time. Belle’s knees were about to give out and she broke the kiss, leaning her forehead against his cheek. They were both breathing heavily.  
“Shall we move this to the sofa before we both fall down,” Richard chuckled softly, still holding Belle firmly against his body. All Belle could do was nod. When she tried to take a step, her knees gave way. Richard deftly picked her up and carried her over to the sofa, settling her in his lap as he sat. He caressed her face, running his thumb across her cheek. “May I kiss you again?” he whispered, running his nose against her jaw, up her cheek, and into her hairline by her ear. She still smelled of roses and sunshine and maybe strawberries.  
“You may, but from now on you have my permission to kiss me whenever you like, wherever you like,” she replied softly. Richard’s eyebrows rose as mischief glinted in his beautiful blue eyes. He took her left hand in his and tenderly kissed it,  
“Then there only leaves one question to ask,” he kissed her wrist, flicking his tongue out to taste her skin at her pulse, which was racing.  
“And what is that?” she asked breathlessly as he continued kissing her wrist. He stopped momentarily,  
“Do you like this?” he whispered as he kissed up her arm. Belle bit her lip. “Hmm?...” he thrummed, his chest vibrating as he let his fingers push her hair aside so he could press his lips to the juncture between her shoulder and neck, “or this, my love?” he flicked his tongue out to taste her again. Belle shivered,  
“Yesss…” she breathlessly whimpered.  
“God, you taste delicious,” he whispered against her neck before moving to capture her lips again, his hands running up her neck before fisting in her hair. Her left hand caressed his face. She could easily get lost in his caresses, his amazing kisses. Richard groaned as his body began to betray his need for her and he didn’t want to push her away by moving too fast, but God, was she so deliciously intoxicating. It was Belle who finally pulled back, placing a hand on his chest. “I’m sorry-” he started, but Belle put her fingers to his lips to silence him.  
“No! I wanted it. I want...this...but…”  
“We need to slow down...I know,” Richard finished for her. Belle smiled,  
“See, that’s one thing I love about you. you usually know what I’m thinking,” she lightly kissed him before rising and picking up her glass. She took a long drink. Richard wasn’t sure how to feel-bereft from the loss of her body in his arms, relief that he might keep himself from an embarrassing situation, and then there was hope. He definitely felt hope.  
“Then let me read your thoughts again,” Richard smirked. Belle turned to smirk right back,  
“Be my guest, if you dare.”  
“Alright then,” he rose, finally able to keep his arousal in check. “You’re thinking I’m definitely interested in you, which I am. That you think I’m sexy, which I am, and that you definitely want to be with me, which I want as well, but that we need to take it slow,” she nodded as he rattled off her thoughts. “There’s just one thing I can’t quite read. When will I be able to call you mine?” His eyes caught hers and she blushed, worrying her bottom lip. She had to think for a moment, to be sure of her answer,  
“Soon…”  
“Speaking of soon. You know tomorrow’s the big Tolkien panel for the anniversary, and while I know you probably can’t be there, there is going to be a little gathering tomorrow night at a some little restaurant halfway across town. I want you there, I can get you the address, I just need to know if you’ll be my date?”  
“There’s a dinner some friends are throwing me tomorrow night,” his hopeful face fell, “But I can use the Disney Princess panel Sunday morning as an excuse to leave early. What time is your thing?” His expression regained it’s hopeful, happy smile.  
“Here, I’ll forward you the text,” he said, grabbing his phone from the table and forwarding the message to her. She checked to make sure she got it and when she saw the current time, she cringed,  
“Oh Lord, is that the time?! I hadn’t realized it was so late!”  
“What? Is Cinderella going to have to leave the ball at midnight?” he said softly as she set her phone back down.  
“Not right at midnight, I don’t suppose,” she smiled as he set his wineglass down. He bowed slightly,   
“Then may I have this dance, Princess?” he asked, extending his hand to her. The music had long ceased playing and Belle raised her eyebrows at him,  
“But there’s no music!...” Richard hit a button on his phone and the soundtrack to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella began playing, ‘Ten Minutes Ago’ to be precise. “How did you know I love this show?” she mused as he placed a hand on her waist, gently rocking them back and forth.  
“Ben had your phone and he let me look at your Spotify favorites, then I remembered the article mentioned your musical theatre work and I kinda put two and two together,” he smiled down at her as she hummed along as they danced. When Cinderella started singing, Belle felt she had join in because the words mirrored the way she suddenly felt about this sweet man who held her while they waltzed on their tiny dance floor. They danced for three songs and when the music stopped, they already had. Their bodies were pressed together, foreheads touching. Richard hands and arms were wrapped around her body tightly as he slowly tilted his head to press tender kisses to her temple and down her cheek.  
“I suppose I really should get you back, my princess,” he whispered against her ear softly kissing it.  
“Is the ball over?” she whispered back, giggling a bit.  
“It doesn’t have to be. You’re free to stay with me as long as you want to.”  
“Another time. About that other question you asked, if I had seen a ghost. Ask me again sometime and I’ll tell you everything; I want you to know, you need to know if this is going to work between us, it’s just now isn’t the right time just yet.”  
“I understand. Thank you for being truthful with me, not many wom-people are in my experience.”  
“Oh? And is your experience wide, Mr Armitage?” she smirked, lifting an eyebrow. He squeezed her waist,  
“You’ll find out soon enough, you naughty girl!” he smirked back at her before kissing her. “C’mon, let’s get you back to your room, shall we,” he kissed her again. “Oh, by the way, I forgot to give this back to you last night,” he picked up her flask to hand it back to her, “I’m afraid it’s empty.” Belle laughed,  
“Keep it and I’ll refill it when we get upstairs,” she slipped her phone into her clutch as Richard opened the door, “Save the wine too, we might need it tomorrow night.”  
Richard was mentally patting himself on the back as how well things between them seemed to be going, and growing as they walked, arms around each other’s waists, to the lift bank. He almost wished he hadn’t invited her to the gathering tomorrow night and wished instead that he’d leave early to spend the evening alone with her, just being together.  
“I’m debating whether or not I want to share you with my friends tomorrow or just secretly keep you for myself,” he said as he watched her refill the flask back in her suite. She was silent and he began to wonder if he’d said something wrong until she put the flask in his pocket and brought his arms around her waist,  
“I won’t pretend like I haven’t secretly wanted that since the moment we first met,” she placed her hands on his chest, her fingers playing with the soft curls peeking out of his unbuttoned shirt. “You can ask my brothers, I’d resigned myself to being the single spinster aunt not long after that expo, but you changed my mind tonight. I won’t lie to you, I have dreamed that maybe this might happen, but thought it would probably only end up being a fantasy. So when you asked when you might call me yours, I realized that I’ve been yours from the moment we met. My mum always tells me, God saves us for the right person and I think you might be that one. I was almost married once, but broke it off because we just weren’t right together. Of course, it was only after we had a baby and broke up that I found out he’d been cheating on me while I was pregnant-but that’s another story. I said all that to say this. I’ve never felt this comfortable and free with anyone but my family and I will do whatever I need to to make you feel the same.” She’d stared at his shirt buttons the whole speech, afraid to meet his eyes lest he betray his reticence and kill her right then and there. Richard put a finger under her chin,  
“Look at me, Belle,” he said softly. When she still cast her eyes down he lifted her chin. “Please look at me.” she lifted hesitant eyes to his. “I already feel that way too. It happened so fast I hardly even realized it. It would give me no greater pleasure than to know we belong to each other, and I’m assuming that’s what you’re saying you want as well.” Belle nodded with a soft smile.  
“It is.”  
“Then my darling Belle, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow evening,” he leaned down and kissed her tenderly, “I’ll say goodnight now then, sweet Cinderella.”  
“Goodnight, my handsome prince charming,” Belle said walking him to the door.  
“Sweet dreams, My Love.” He kissed her once more then left before he could no longer control himself. He ached so terribly to have her in his arms and in his bed, and he could tell she wanted him that way too, but they needed to wait. He would never take her completely unless there was true pure love there first, but he didn’t know if she felt the same way about their physical joining.

Belle woke to her phone chiming.  
‘Breakfast? - R’  
‘Yes, please, meet @ Starbucks? - B’  
‘I’m outside your door - R’ She sprang out of bed, not bothering to fix anything about her appearance, and ran to fling open the door, mobile still in hand. Only when she did open the door there was no one there.  
“The fuck?!?”  
‘Just kidding - R’ She growled, slumping against the open door.  
‘Bastard - B’ she texted back, rubbing her face and yawning. She jumped when she heard a chirp that sounded like Richard’s mobile. She frowned and took a step out into the hall to find Richard leaning against the wall, his mobile in one hand, a Starbucks in his other, and his signature crooked grin on his face.  
“Morning, Gorgeous!!” he said sweetly.  
“You jerk, get your ass in here before someone sees you!” Belle grabbed his collar and pulled him into her suite. Without thought, she pushed him into the wall and kissed him hard. He wrapped his arms around her waist and answered her fervent kisses with his own. Fuck, his kisses are amazing. She moaned as he flicked his tongue into her mouth. Dear God, she tastes better than alcohol and chocolate, maybe even sex. Oh God, how I want to make love to this woman. He moaned as she pressed her body into his with a carnal need. Her mobile phone rang and she nearly jumped halfway across the room. It was a few moments before either of them could speak.  
“I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I don’t know what came over me.” She was blushing hard and she turned away from him and moved to the kitchenette and leaned against the counter. Then suddenly she began to cry. “I fucked up, didn’t I? I always do the wrong thing at the wrong time!” When Richard moved to take her in his arms, she moved away from him, covering her face with her hands.  
“Belle, stop it. You did nothing wrong. What’s wrong, honey? Tell me, please,” he held onto her as she slowly let him turn her around. When she was facing him, her demeanor shifted and suddenly she wasn’t the same person he knew. She clung to him, still crying, like he was the only thing keeping her alive at the moment. “Shh, sweetheart. Did something happen last night after I left?...D-did I do something?”  
“No! No! Not you, never you! It’s me...I’m sorry, I don’t think I can do this. I can’t drag you down with me-I won’t. It’s my baggage, and it’s too much to ask you to deal with it. You don’t deserve to be smeared by my past-”  
“Stop!” Richard nearly shouted at her. “Look at me, Belle, please.” When she finally obeyed him, she stared back at him with fearful and wild eyes. “Shit, honey. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. Just please tell me what’s happened to freak you out like this.”   
“I don’t want you to have to carry that burden. It’s not a nice one.”  
“Listen to me. I want you to tell me the truth, because I want you, baggage and all and you need to let me be the judge of whether or not I want or can carry that burden. Because if I can’t carry it for you, I’ll carry you and we’ll share the load. Now come here,” he led her over to the sofa and sat down pulling her onto his lap. “Tell me everything.” Belle proceeded to to tell him about the dream she’d had the night before and why it haunted her like it did. It had dredged up unpleasant and very unhappy memories for her. She told him how her boyfriend, towards the latter part of their relationship had made her feel small and insignificant without every really saying as much out loud and that while he never actually hit her with his hands or anything else, his mental abuse was just as terrible. He’d poisoned her mind against herself and she blamed herself for her son’s mental and physical challenges and when she’d lost her son a few years later, she’d sunk to a very low place. Everything in her life suffered and she found herself repeating bad relationship decisions again and again. Even though she never actually did drugs or turned to the bottle, she ended up having a physical break down. It was like her body had simply given up the will to function properly and she had to be hospitalized. The public and news sites just added fuel to the fire by writing scathing and completely factless stories on reasons for her illness, hospitalization, and even the loss of her son.  
Richard had prepared himself for far worse news and he’d known it would more than likely be a difficult thing to hear, yet it still made him angry and his arms instinctively wrapped tighter around her. He knew it was difficult for her to tell him this, but he was glad she was so willing to tell him the truth about it. It wouldn’t be easy to move on from her past, but he would be there for her and do whatever he needed to help her move past it and be the amazing woman he knew was inside her.  
“Belle, I don’t care about your past. I care about your future-our future. The past is the past and it should stay there. The only thing that matters is you. I want you, not your past, not your fame, not whoever other people say you are. Can you believe that of me? Because if you can, then we can make a life together, completely new and free from whatever is holding you back. Trust me when I say that I will never make you feel the way he did. I swear. Do you believe me?” Belle nodded. “Does it make you feel any better?”  
“I guess...You’re sure you don’t wanna run from my crazy?”  
“I love your brand of crazy, remember? Let’s see what we can do to make you feel better. How about this,” he dipped her back in his arms and kissed her tenderly. She giggled and ran her fingernails through the hair on the back of his head. “Better?”  
“Getting there…” she said. He grinned.  
“Cheeky little minx!” He kissed her a little deeper, pulling her against him and wrapping his arms back around her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and whimpered as his lips worked on hers, his tongue lightly caressing her lips, but not venturing into her mouth, lest they find themselves in a more precarious situation. When their lips finally parted, she rested her face against his neck as his hands stroked her hair, her arms, her back, and soothed her. They stayed like for a few minutes until Belle sighed,  
“I suppose we really should go before somebody starts breaking down the door looking for us.”  
“They can just wait. We need to be here right now,” he replied softly. Just then Ben came almost crashing through the door.  
“Belle?! Are you here?” he called, before he saw them sitting on the sofa. “Oh, gosh, sorry. Is everything ok?” he asked. He could tell from Belle’s face that she’d been crying. Belle extricated herself from Richard’s arms reluctantly,  
“I should get dressed.”  
“I’ll be here if you need me, love,” Richard whispered, smiling tenderly up at her. She gently kissed him,  
“Thank you, Sweetheart.” As she moved towards her room, she placed a hand on Ben’s arm to reassure him before she picked up the Starbucks Richard had brought for her. When he was sure she was well out of earshot, Ben sat down across from Richard and leaned forward,  
“Ok, tell me what happened,” he said, worry on his face. Before Belle was ready to go, Richard had finished telling Ben what had happened and Ben had in return told Richard what he’d seen firsthand and how he and Sam had tried to shield her from the things the press had said about her. He also explained why she’d said what she did about the years around the time of the Expo. Following the success of the show and it’s award-winning season, then the Expo, Belle’s son had been in a serious accident and after a long battle fighting for his life, he’d lost and she’d been devastated. The following year the play had moved from the West End to Broadway, where it was pretty much sold out every night. It became her lifeline. Just a few days after the one night special family show, her father, who had suffered all his life with polio, had suddenly become ill and after just a few days had died. She’d barely been able to make it through the Tony Awards, but had put on a brave face and no one suspected a thing until she’d found herself walking up to the stage, unable to stop crying, to accept the Tony for Best Original Play and after delivering a very short speech had collapsed backstage in the arms of her friend Hugh Jackman. That night the Broadway community had rallied round her and taken up an impromptu gathering of funds to pay for all of her family’s funeral expenses. While she’d been so very grateful, it had all been far too much for her.   
Now Richard understood her better and admired and respected her far more than he first had. He was even fairly certain that he loved her-No, he knew for sure he did truly love her, he just needed to figure out if he should tell her now or if it was too soon. She was his now, he was certain of that, and he vowed to do everything in his power to show her how much her trust and faith in him meant.   
“You love her, don’t you?” Ben asked. He could tell by the way what he’d told him had affected Richard. The younger man rubbed his face, tears in his eyes, a hot lump in his throat from what he’d just heard.  
“I-I do. Yes, I love her very much. I have ever since I met her in London,” he laughed. “I didn’t know it then, but when I saw her it was like something told me that I needed her. It was only last night that I realized why I needed her. It may be cliche to say, but she completes me, she makes me feel like I’m home.”  
“Yep, you love her alright. I know how you feel. Welcome to the family, Armitage,” Ben grinned at him as he clapped him on the shoulder and shook his hand.  
“Ben, where’s my big rifle and sword for Ava?” Belle asked as she came out of the bedroom.  
“They’re at the table with Sam. You put them there yesterday,” he answered. Richard was dumbfounded as she sauntered into the living area. Damn she looked amazing. Her hair was fixed with her usual pink and purple ombre lowlights and her purple brocade corset over her black lace top and black leather pants with her purple boots hugged her every curve so perfectly. She looked dangerously sexy and he was pretty certain she knew what she was doing to him. She was fastening a belt and dual holsters around her waist as she sauntered over to him.  
“Thanks for the coffee, Honey. I needed it,” she said, giving him a quick kiss. He caught her round the waist and held her there.  
“Fuck, woman. Warn a man before coming out in an outfit like that,” he growled, his voice low. “So sexy...and the things you’re doing to me,” he said softly, nipping at her lips. She smirked at him before glancing over at Ben, who was adjusting his leather vest.   
“Then maybe you should leave before you embarrass yourself, or me,” she said. Ben snorted a choked laugh,  
“I’ll be in my bunk,” he coughed, retreating out into the hall. Belle laughed out loud and Richard joined her after a moment.  
“See, it’s a good thing we can laugh at ourselves,” she said, putting her arms around his neck. “Let’s make a pact that no matter how stressed or serious our lives get, that we’ll always find something we can laugh at each other over, alright?” she said. Richard nodded,  
“Agreed. I promise to always laugh at you-or is that with you?” Belle smacked his arm and he pulled her flush against him so he could kiss her better. She felt his reaction to her outfit and she couldn’t help but smile.  
“Oi--you’re gonna--mess up my--makeup--lover,” she said between kisses.  
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”  
“Apparently not,” she glanced down at his fly and he blushed. “I’ll let you mess up my lipstick another time, but right now you should probably go so we’re not seen together until you’re ready to make a public statement.” he nodded.  
“You’re right. You are so good for me, Sweetheart,” he kissed her once more, then on the cheek “I’ll see you tonight, and this time you can definitely dress up for me!” he said as he headed to the door.  
“Alright, I definitely will, but I hope your friends know it’s only for you and not for them.”  
“I doubt they will, but at least I’ll know.”  
“Later, Honey.”  
“Later, Sexy,” he replied and switched places with Ben.  
“Is it safe to come aboard, Captain,” he asked, sticking his head around the corner.  
“It’s safe. Let’s give him a head start, then we can go. It wouldn’t do for us to be seen together so soon.”  
“Yup, I called it. Sam owes me 20 bucks!”  
“For what?” she said, grabbing a water bottle out of the fridge, a puzzled look on her face.  
“Because he didn’t believe me when I said Richard was already in love with you.” Belle blushed hard. “C’mon, Sweetheart, don’t be shy about it. I know you’re in love with him too. And what’s more, he already loves you more than anyone you’ve ever been with, including Timothy or Aaron, and I’m pretty certain Richard’s love’s not going anywhere any time soon. Take it from your old married brother, Doll, he’s beyond smitten.”  
“You really believe that?” Belle asked.   
“When are you ever gonna start trusting me? I would never steer you wrong there,” he looked at his phone, “Shit, we’ve gotta get to the Hyatt for the panel, c’mon Captain, let’s hoof it!” They had a panel and a Kaliope photoshoot to do, after which Belle was able to catch Richard’s big Tolkien Anniversary panel before she had to get changed for the Geek Street Fashion show back at the Marriott. Richard had seen Belle sneak into the Tolkien panel with Danielle and he hadn’t been able to stop smiling the whole time. Belle had nearly gotten him to break when she asked the question, in a disguised voice, if “Richard and Ben had compared Great Red Dragon?” The looks on the panel’s faces had been hilarious and she nearly gave herself away. Ben’s answer: “He tried, but sadly for him mine’s bigger, and better!” Richard had covered his face and Lee and Martin had nearly fallen out of their chairs they were laughing so hard. She couldn’t wait to hear what they’d have to say about it that evening. When the panel was over, Belle went up to her room to change. This was her only chance to do so before tonight. She needed to pick something just right, a little geeky for the fashion show, a little sexy for Richard, and dressy enough that she looked nice without looking overdressed for the gathering with Richard’s friends. That’s it! She went to her closet and pulled out her Star Wars dress. She’d pair it with her silver star heels and fascinator and carry her R2-D2 clutch with a vintage updo for her hair, leaving in the coloured streaks and doing her makeup just right to really set the look off. Once she and her sisters were ready, they went down to get everything set up for what was promised to be a great turnout for the first Dragon*Con & Geek Street Journal Presents: The First Annual Geek Couture Fashion Show. This would be the first of many shows, she’d been promised and her friend and colleague Ashley Eckstein had supported it through her own geek chic fashion line called Her Universe. She’d also asked if Geek Street Fashion would consider joining forces for the Comic Con Geek Couture show the following year, to which she of course said yes. She wasn’t sure, but Belle thought she saw Amanda Abbington on the front row of the VIP section.   
After the show and at the dinner Danielle had announced 25 big name orders, two offers to carry her line in-store, and 1400 total orders from the website and booth using the Dragon special order code. They celebrated the news. Besides her professional pursuits, she also owned her own company that produced Death By Glitter and her solo music, produced her web and tv series, and also made geek chic fashion contributed to by many of her artist and costumer friends. Danielle helped her run the costume and fashion lines while Danielle’s husband and Cali’s husband ran and managed her Chorus Line Clubs, which were located in Houston, Dallas, Orlando, and Las Angeles. The dinner was not only to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the launch of her company but to celebrate all the designers, artists, and costumers who had contributed to the company over the years. It was a wonderful evening and she got to see all of her friends, but she kept worrying about being late to her other event, the one that mattered a little more to her since the start of the convention. She kept looking at her phone.  
“Go see your boyfriend, honey. I’ll make your excuses,” Zack said.  
“Yeah, Rich would kill me if you didn’t show up after he reminded me about it three times today. So go on!” Ben urged.  
“Thanks, both of you,” she kissed them both on the cheek and headed out to find a cab from the restaurant. The other restaurant was far enough away from the convention hotels that hopefully there would be no one to recognize any of them. When Belle got to the second place she was a little surprised to find out it was much more swanky than Richard had led her to believe. “Hi, I’m here for the-”  
“Your boyfriend said you’d be joining them later. It’s so cute that you dressed alike too. Right this way, if you will,” the host said as he led her to a back room and left her to enter on her own. Belle smiled to herself. Of course he’d have to wear his jacket, that he really bought from me, the same time I wear my dress. Now everyone will know we’re together.   
Everyone was preoccupied when she entered and didn’t notice her for a few minutes. Lee was the first to spot her as he got another drink from the bar and quickly made his way over to her.  
“Hi! You must be Belle. I’m Lee,” he said, offering her his hand.  
“Hi Lee, it’s nice to see you again. It’s been so long you probably don’t remember me.”  
“Wait, we’ve met before?! No way, can’t be, I’m certain I would remember someone like you!” he said, starting to slip an arm around her waist. Richard took the opportunity to come to her rescue. He put a hand on Lee’s chest and gently pushed him back.  
“Oh no you don’t, Romeo! Hands off my girlfriend,” he stepped between them and gently slid his arm around Belle’s waist as he took her clutch and pocketed it in his matching jacket. “You look gorgeous, Darling.” He leaned down and gently kissed her.  
“Thank you, Sweetheart. So do you. It figures you’d wear that jacket the same night I wore my dress!” she laughed.  
“Isn’t that why we got them?” he smirked darkly.  
“I didn’t know my boyfriend was the devil,” she whispered.  
“You caught that did you,” he whispered back. Yeah, Lee suddenly realized that however they’d met before, there was no chance in hell for him with this girl. She was Richard’s totally and completely.  
“Hey, you two, quit snogging and bring that young lady over here!” Andy called from across the room.  
‘OMFG, you were so right. they make a fucking adorable couple - A’  
‘Right, lucky sod...Not the we’re not fucking adorable together too - M’  
‘I want a dress like that and I’m not even a geek...p.s. I knew what you meant - A’  
“Everyone, this is Belle Starr, my girlfriend-”  
“That was fucking quick,” Martin commented. Amanda elbowed him.  
“Belle, this is Andy Serkis, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood,” he skipped Martin and Lee, “Amanda Abbington, Jimmy Nesbitt, and Benedict Cumberbatch,” he said as he went down the line of them all standing there.   
“It’s lovely to meet you all.”  
“Oh, and those fuckers over there are Martin and Lee, but apparently you know Lee already,”  
“Actually, yes, we went to rival high schools. Even competed against him in some theatre competitions way back when.”  
“Oh yeah, you were a Highlander! I remember that now. Damn that was a long time ago! You were in my friend Grady’s class, right, now I remember, we both did Grease around the same time. Wow, small world!” Lee said.   
“Pardon me, but may I just say that Richard’s had a wonderful bit of luck catching you, my dear Ms. Starr,” Ian said, taking her hand and kissing it.  
“I didn’t know I was going to have to protect my girlfriend from you too Ian! God, can’t a bloke get a break?”  
“Not when it comes to the lovely lady who played my stage daughter in two different shows! Come over here and give your old man a hug, Bunny!” Ian replied, laughing.  
“Ok, Am I missing something? Do you all know her already?”  
“No, only Lee and Ian. I promise,”  
“Ok, good, because I was about to take you outside and have a deep heart to heart,” Richard chuckled.   
“You two can do that later, right now I want to catch up with Belle. How’ve you been, Sweetie?”  
“Wonderful, thanks. I saw Patrick a couple of weeks ago in Vegas. His wife was performing before me,” she answered. Richard quietly linked her fingers with his, and he noticed Belle sighed a little.  
“She’s a lovely young thing, isn’t she. Very good for the old man, if you ask me,”  
“I agree. That was the first time I’d gotten to meet her, but yes, she’s very good for dear Patrick. It was funny, he’d never heard our band before and I was a little guarded about whether to invite them to the concert, but I did and they bloody loved it. I think that was the first time I’ve ever seen Patrick rock out with such freedom other than on stage in that scene from Open Wounds,”  
“Wait, Patrick Stewart rocked out? Like headbanging and everything?” Elijah asked.  
“Clearly you’ve never seen Open Wounds. Bunny and Paul and George wigging out, higher than a kite. That show was such fun! I wouldn’t mind doing it again here in the states. I think it might just speak to many of the youth if you brought it up to date. You could do that, couldn’t you, Bunny. After all you won that Tony!”  
“Bunny? I’m sorry, I just have to ask. Why do you call her that?”  
“Bunny’s the nickname the daughter in Open Wounds goes by. Her name is Rebecca, and while her father refuses to call her anything than that, his best friend, who we discover is really is gay lover, calls her Rabbit and Bunny. Ya know it’s strange looking back at it now, but that show had a lot of parallels to my life not long after we got done with the run. Rebecca’s dad George, played by Patrick, was from a time when no one was allowed to be open about being gay and while he married a woman and they had a daughter together, his wife drank herself to death. His daughter used her dad’s fame in the music industry to make a name for herself and got involved with all kinds of bad people and drugs, and alcohol and all the free love of the 70s and she ended up in jail. It opens with Paul, Ian, bringing Bunny, me, home after bailing her out of jail, and the whole of the show takes place in the little farmhouse that her father retired to with his former band mate and best friend Paul. It deals with all of the baggage that all three of them bring to the table and how they all work through it together. While it has happy bits, it doesn’t end on a happy note, and that’s something I always thought I would love to rewrite. If it was brought forward to the present time, I think I could rework it to have a happy ending. I’ll get you the script and you can read it,” Belle said. Now that she had Richard, she thought she just might be able to work through her own history by re-vamping a show that had really launched her career.   
“If you do work on it, let me know, I’d be happy to back it,” Ian said. “Yes indeed, you really have quite the woman there, Richie!”  
“Thank you, I think so too,” Richard replied. Belle blushed as he pulled her into his side and wrapped his arm around her waist. It was pretty plain to everyone gathered there that the two were very much in love. They’d not seen Richard this happy in a long time, and Ian, who knew Belle, definitely saw her reciprocate that happiness.   
“So how did the panel go this afternoon, I was hoping to catch it, but didn’t end up being able to…” Richard raised an eyebrow at her. He knew she was lying because he knew she knew that he’d seen her come in.   
“Oh my God, did you ever miss some very interesting questions!!” said Lee, laughing.   
“Come on, mate. She doesn't wanna hear about that!” Ben said.  
“Yes I do! I wanna hear all the juicy details!” Oh she knew what she was saying alright, Richard thought as he struggled to keep control over his expressions as Lee and Martin dissolved into giggles.  
“You’re making it out to be something more than what it was,” Ben tried again.  
“Come on, now you’ve got to tell it, I wanna hear it too, now spill!” Amanda said.  
“She asked about your Great Red Dragons! It sounded so dirty, how could it not be meant in that way, I mean you even answered her in that same way!”  
“What?! Quit fucking around, somebody start from the beginning and do it quickly, the suspense is killing me!” Amanda said, leaning forward, trying to get someone to quite laughing long enough to answer her already.   
“Ok, so this girl, I really don’t even think she knew how bad it sounded until after it left her mouth, but she asked if Rich and Ben had compared Great Red Dragons. Of course, most of us, knew she was referring to Ben’s portrayal of Smaug and Rich’s Francis Dolarhyde from Hannibal, but Lee and Martin took it to mean something totally other than that and dissolved into laughing so hard they nearly fell out of their chairs. Belle, you should have seen your poor boyfriend’s face, he got so red and nearly hit his head on the table to trying to hide!” Sean said.  
“I did not try to hide, I just covered my face.”  
“Dude, you were redder than Ian’s shirt!” Lee said, punching him in the arm.  
“And then Ben had to go and make it so much worse by answering, and I quote, “He tried, but sadly for him, mine’s bigger, and better!” and the whole audience nearly died laughing!” Andy added. Ben was blushing, Richard was blushing and everyone else was laughing all over again.  
“It was so not funny and totally not meant that way!” Richard said.  
“Oh, Honey, yes it was. And I know because when Dani heard me say it, she forced me to go ask it in front of God and everyone!”  
“Oh. My. God. You’re the one who said that?! I bloody love this woman, Richard!” Amanda cried. Everyone stopped for an instant and looked at Belle.  
“To be completely honest, I never really meant it to sound so dirty when I first said it. I really had wondered if Richard had called you, Ben and asked you how you got into Smaug’s head when he did Dolarhyde. Yeah I know they were sorta different characters, but in a way they were definitely linked. Especially when Dolarhyde made that first phone call to Lecter. You totally did Ben’s Smaug voice then!...” she was silent a minute as everyone tried to stop laughing. “Compared Great Red Dragons...yeah it really does sound so very dirty, doesn’t it!” she joined them when they all erupted back into laughter again.   
“This woman is definitely a keeper, Richie!” Jimmy said, smacking his knee.  
“I have to be completely honest though, aside from the dirty joke, Dani and I cried legit tears at some of the questions and answers. I guess you never really realize how much something like Tolkien’s works can span the test of time and touch someone today the same way it touched someone way back when it first came out. I love epics like that. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to become a writer, plus getting to work with such great people to bring a story like that to life is so rewarding and I totally understand why Richard thinks so highly of all of you. You know he even said he wasn’t sure he wanted to introduce me to you guys in case you liked me better than him!”  
“That’s not what I said, but yeah, I did kinda think that at the time,”  
“Aww, Richie really wuvs us all!” Lee said, puckering up his lips like he was gonna kiss him.  
“Sod off, Pace!”  
“Fine, I’ll kiss Belle, I like her better anyway...hey, you were right after all!”  
“You kiss her and I’ll cut your lips off!” Rich said.  
“Down boys, no need to get hostel. But Lee, I do have to tell you, that just because you kiss me doesn’t mean I’ll like you any better. I let my animals kiss me too!”  
“Ohh, Nice one, Love!” Amanda said, high fiving her from across the table as Lee pouted. They all found themselves sitting in an almost circle around Belle. After a while, someone started a game of Tolkien trivia, but Belle and Richard were not allowed to be on the same team. It was Richard, Martin, Sean, Elijah and Ben against Belle, Lee, Ian, Amanda and Jimmy, with Andy acting as referee. Hilariously it had come down to pretty much Richard against Belle and Belle was holding her own against the self-professed Tolkien trivia master. She’d finally stumped them by naming off the Valar, their respective representations, and who they created. When the losers had to buy the winners dinner, Ben and Sean called the whole game rigged and unfair. Martin and Richard were already going to buy Amanda and Belle’s dinners, so really it’s wasn’t a fair solution at all. They soon found themselves back in the semicircle around Belle and were asking her all about what she did. She mentioned doing voice-over work for Disney and that there was a panel about that in the morning and a concert just a few days later at the Atlanta Music Hall with a few of her fellow princesses. They kept asking her to do different voices and she sang a few bars of several Disney Princess songs in their exact voices and then one in her own. They were utterly mesmerized by her and quickly falling in love with her, much to the chagrin of Richard, but he’d begun to come to terms that if they liked her this much already, maybe they’d be ok with him asking her to stay with him. A few of them such as Martin, Amanda, Ben, and Lee were more than happy to give their opinions of women he went out with, which were few and far between and never usually ended up lasting past one date, so he was pretty sure they genuinely liked Belle almost as much as he did. He had already fallen in love with her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but he was afraid of moving too fast for her and scaring her off, though he was pretty sure that would be hard to do considering how much shit she’d had to deal with in her life and how much more shit she would have to go through in the future because of his celebrity. Though he was fairly sure she’d get through that part just fine since she had to deal with it everyday on her own as well..   
As the party began to wind down, Richard had excused he and Belle and they’d called a cab to take them back to the hotel, but not before Amanda made them promise to come to dinner with them when they were back in London. The cab had dropped them off a couple of blocks from the hotel, so hopefully no one would see them returning together and before Belle had known what was happening, Richard had pulled her into an alcove and kissed her senseless.  
“God, I love you, woman. I love you so much it hurts.”  
“I hurt that way too, but it’s the good kind of hurt. I love you, Richard. I might even like your friends too. Ian and Amanda definitely, maybe Lee, but he doesn't really count because we knew each other before we were famous.” When Richard gave her a skeptical look, she pulled his face down to kiss him again, her tongue teasing across his lips as his hands groped her, pulling her flush against his body. He had to pull back,  
“Baby, we’re gonna get arrested if we keep this up,” he said, trying to catch his breath. Belle giggled,  
“I agree. Gimme a couple seconds head start and we can go into the hotel. I’ll pass up the entrance and walk up the opposite side before you come in, ok. Take your jacket off too, we don’t need anyone putting two and two together. I’ll come up in a bit after I’ve changed and checked in with the family, alright.”  
“Of course. You really know how to do these things awfully well.”  
“Yeah, it comes from having to plan them out for clients to see each other, so I’ve had my fair share of plotting. I’ll see you in a bit, ok,” she kissed him again. “I love you, Richard Fucking Armitage!”  
“I love you too, Amethyst Belle Starr, or is it Sexy, I can’t remember when you kiss me like that.” He grinned at her as she gave his buttcheek a squeeze before leaving him to walk to the hotel. He did as she said, but they caught each other at the lift bank. There were a few stragglers heading up to their rooms and they had to share the lift up, but no one was the wiser. The others in the lift were too busy trying not to watch She-Ra and He-Man make out. Richard slipped his hand around Belle’s and gave her a little smirk. She squeezed his hand in return. She was the only one left in the lift when it stopped at Richard’s floor and he gave her a quick kiss before letting the doors close. Belle changed into her Stormtrooper sweatpants, her “Let’s cuddle and watch Star Wars” t-shirt and her fem trooper helmet and went downstairs to Richard’s room. He laughed when he opened the door.  
“Did someone order a sexy stormtrooper?” she said, taking off her helmet and setting it on her hip.  
“Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper? Get in here, Baby,” he said, pulling her into his arms and closing the door with his foot. She set her helmet on the table and let him pick her up and plop them both down on the sofa which was covered in blankets and pillows. On the TV, A New Hope had just started and on the table in front of her was chocolate covered strawberries and wine. She grinned.  
“You know me so well!”  
“Well, you’re shirt does say you wanna cuddle and watch Star Wars,” he said, as she shifted to lay in his lap.  
“Yeah, but we can kiss too, right. That’s still cuddling…” she grinned. They did kiss for a little while, then cuddled while finishing the wine and strawberries. Sometime halfway through Return of the Jedi, Richard realized that Belle had fallen asleep in his lap and he turned the TV off and carried her to bed. He laid down beside her and she instinctively turned into his body, letting him wrap himself around her before going back to sleep in his arms. He sighed happily, happier than he’d been a very long time.   
“I can’t believe your mine, My Love,” he whispered before sleep claimed him as well.

The next morning Belle was up before Richard and left him a little note telling him she’d had to go get ready for the Disney panel. When he woke up, he lay there a few minutes, wondering if the last night had been a dream, but seeing Belle’s note as he shuffled to make coffee and her helmet that she’d left on the table reminded him it had been real. Having another body in his bed felt normal to him. She was becoming his home and he was just fine with that. He showered and headed down to the panel room to watch her in her element. She’d gushed about being able to line up such an amazing group for the panel and for the concert that the panel was promoting. She moderated the panel which consisted of Ming-Na, Sierra Boggess, Ashley Eckstein, Ashley Brown, Susan Egan, James Monroe Iglehart, Anika Noni Rose, and John Barrowman. All of whom would be joining her in concert. They talked about their respective roles, and how some had been transformed from the screen to the Broadway stage. All in all with a few little bits of scripts and singing the panel was a total hit. Richard enjoyed watching Belle field questions and lead discussions and when the singing started he laughed with everyone, especially when Barrowman asked if he could be a Disney Princess, to which the whole panel answered he already was! When the panel was over, he caught Belle on her way up to her room to change for the day. The con was winding down and they would have two days before the concert to do whatever they wanted, but for now they were content to grab a drink at the guest bar.   
“So, after the concert where does your schedule take you?”  
“London actually. I’m doing a seminar with The Baker Street Irregulars about my book at their annual convention. How about you?”  
“Same, actually...well not the book convention, but London. Doing a photo spread for GQ then going to my parent’s for my nephew’s birthday.”  
“OOooohh, GQ! How very posh!” she laughed.  
“Ugh, don’t remind me! I really hate doing these photo shoots sometimes. Makes me feel very vain, which I am so not.”  
“You are a little bit.”  
“I am not!”  
“C’mon, with your teeth whitened to within an inch of their life, your gorgeous features, yeah, you are a little vain. But all actors are, it comes with the territory and it’s not something that anyone can change,” Belle said. “Even I am. I hate conventions sometimes, because I can never find a time to get into the weight room or gym, and with how much I struggle with my weight, I’m very vain when it comes to my weight issues, so see, no one is immune.”  
“But your body is perfect the way it is. I love your curves and I wouldn’t change you for anything.” Belle shook her head at him.  
“You’re such a sap, you know that?!”  
“What can I say, I love my girlfriend!”  
“So, I’m your girlfriend now, am I. And when was this decided?” she asked. Richard was suddenly flustered,  
“Um, I thought that...I mean if it’s ok with you…”  
“It’s perfect, Darling. I’ll like being able to say I have a boyfriend...but God I hate that term. You’re not a boy and you’re more than a friend...it just sounds so puerile!”  
“Agreed, you’re definitely not a girl and you’re definitely more than a friend. What do we call each other?” he said, rolling his drink around in it’s glass.  
“I wouldn’t be opposed to partner...I don’t plan on going anywhere any time soon,” she smiled. Her smile was infectious,  
“Hmm, I like that. How about Life Partner, more than temporary, but less than marriage, not that I have a problem with marriage, but that can wait til much further down the line,” he said, taking her hand and running his fingers over it. She blushed,  
“I don’t have a problem with marriage either...but I like Life Partner. In fact, since we don’t have anything else for a couple of hours, why don’t you come up and we can make the necessary calls to our agents, shall we?...Unless that’s moving too fast for you?”  
“No, absolutely. All I have to do is tell Dani, she takes care of all that for me.”  
“Lucky!” he winked at her and she took his offered hand.  
“Wait, you don’t mind being seen together now?”  
“No, not if you don’t.”  
“I don’t have a problem, per say, I’m just concerned that agents won’t be told soon enough to get out in front of some publicity stunt, ya know.”  
“See, there you go again, thinking of things I wouldn’t. I’m too distracted by you to think about those things, so I bow to your superior authority,” he said bowing slightly. They both laughed,  
“Well, I am the TARDIS, so of course I’m the superior authority!...Meet you in my room in five,” she said, pecking him on the cheek and heading towards the door. He gave her a head start, then ended up meeting her at the lift bank again.   
“Ah, Dragon and the indefinite lift wait….we may still be standing here in February…” she shook her head.  
“You ain’t kidding,” someone dressed as Captain America said. “This get’s so old, but it happens every year. We must be gluttons for punishment to keep coming back every year.”  
“Too right! I mean memes have been made about this, it’s a whole internet trend in and of itself!” Belle replied. Everyone standing there waiting laughed. It was something to bond over until the lift finally did arrive and they all went their separate ways. Richard stopped at his floor to keep people from talking when they both got off at the same floor. Belle smiled to himself. Distracted or not, he definitely had a good head on his shoulders.   
Back in her room, she set out some wine and snacks just in case anyone got hungry, even though most of her family was down on the con floor doing their thing. It wasn’t long before there was a knock on her door and she opened it to see her former best friend standing there.  
“Meredith?!”  
“Hi Belle. Can we talk for a minute?”  
“Um, sure...come in,” before she could close the door, Richard showed up and he slipped in behind Meredith.  
“Sorry, Richard, this is Meredith. Meredith, Richard, my boyf-partner. Do you want him to wait in the other room?”  
“No, I’m sure he’d probably already heard about me, besides, what I have to say isn’t really a secret. I was sorta hoping that you’d be at the SGMT game night so I could do this in front of all concerned, but oh well. I made my peace with them, and now I’ll make it with you. I know it’s been awhile, but it’s been eating me up ever since and I never could figure out why until I heard that track on your latest album, For Good from Wicked. For some strange reason it just suddenly hit me what I needed to do. I was wrong for never giving you a chance to explain your reasons for canceling that room way back when. I was also wrong to never respond when you did try to reach out. What I did after that was just plain spite and malice, I don’t think I realized I wasn’t just hurting you, but I was hurting your friends and the others involved. I told lies and spread rumours about you and about things we spoke of in confidence and that was, I think, the worst of all of it. I wanted to come by and say I was sorry and that even if you chose not to forgive me, which I wouldn’t blame you for, at least I apologized for it. I told Jen and everyone in SGMT who knew about the situation the truth and apologized to them to for lying to them. So here I am and that’s what I came to say. I didn’t know I missed your friendship as much as I did.” Richard had moved away from them to give them a moment, but still heard everything that was said. Belle stood there looking at Meredith with blank expression, but he could see tears starting to well up in her eyes.  
“Mere. I forgave you a long time ago. Yes it hurt, the things you said, but you were in a hard position too. Life happens, circumstances happen, and sometimes we can’t change them. I’m glad you came to speak to me and I’m glad you wanted to make things right. But there’s nothing more to say about it. You told me when we saw each other at Cracker Barrel nearly two years later that you were over it and over our friendship, so I took that to mean you didn’t want to speak to or see me ever again and I did what I could to make sure that happened. It took guts to come up and here and say something and I proud of you for doing it. I already forgave you, and I accept your apology, and I apologize that communication didn’t happen when it needed to. But what more is there to say?”  
“Other than I’m sorry, I don’t know of a single damn thing!”  
“So maybe we can start over...My life has changed so much since then, I’m only sorry I didn’t get to include you in it.”  
“Yeah, me too. It would have been nice to say I knew you when. I mean I guess I still can, but it’s not the same.”  
“I know…”  
“Look, I’m sorry to interrupt your schedule, I just needed to tell you and a text or email just wasn’t gonna cut it.”  
“I understand. It’s good to see you Meredith. I hope things are going well for you and your sisters and family,”  
“Thanks, it’s not ideal, but it’s ok. But I know you’ve had that same situation. I wanted to send my condolences on your father’s death, but I didn’t think you’d appreciate that at the time.”  
“I would have because it would have meant that you tried. Thank you.”  
“Your welcome. Maybe one day we can get together and catch up. I gotta say I went to your club a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing. The food was great and the entertainment was fantastic. It’s an awesome place and you should be proud.”  
“I am, actually. Thanks.”  
“Listen, I should go and leave you two alone. It was nice to meet you, Richard, I’m sorry it couldn’t have been under better circumstances. It was also good to see you too, Belle. But I’ll say goodbye now.”  
“Hey, you don’t have to do that. If we do run into each other I want you to know you can certainly come talk to me anytime. Even a text or FB message if you prefer. Hope you enjoyed your Con!” Belle said.  
“Yeah, thanks. I’ll keep that in mind. Bye,” Meredith said, turning to go. The whole conversation had been awkward, but Belle was glad that her once best friend had come to make amends. As she closed the door behind her, Belle leaned against it and blew out a deep breath.   
“Well that was awkward!”  
“Um...yeah...wine?”  
“Yes please. Sorry you had to witness that, awkward as it was. I’ll tell you about it some other time. Right now I just wanna sit and relax with you.” Belle took the glass Richard handed her and followed him to the couch. He’d taken his jacket off and made himself comfortable and to both of them it just seemed like any other normal day, minus the random dredging up of memories.   
“Wanna know a secret?” Richard whispered against Belle’s forehead.  
“Yes, please,” she replied softly.  
“You already feel like home to me. This feels like we’ve been together for years and it just feels right, ya know?”  
“You’re right. It feels the same to me and it’s a bit scary how quickly it happened. How does that even happen?!”  
“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t change it for anything.”  
“Agreed.”


	3. Three Days into a Fairytale

“So, London...Do you want to come with me after your little convention if our schedules allow?”  
“Absolutely I do! Maybe we could go exploring together. It’s been so long since I’ve been back to London, or England for that matter. Ya know I used to live in Notting Hill a long time ago. I miss my blue door!” Richard laughed.  
“I think we can arrange some exploring. Maybe we can even arrange to fly over together.”  
“That would be lovely-jubbly!” Belle replied, giggling as Richard’s scruff tickled against her cheek. He’d tucked his head to kiss her cheek, and she now lifted hers to kiss his lips. It felt wonderful to kiss him, and be kissed by him. She let him gather her into his arms and kiss her deeper as she ran her fingers through his wavy hair, letting her nails scratch against his scalp. He loved kissing her and he wanted so much more of her, but he would reserve that for when she was ready. Her little moans and whimpers did unimaginable things to him and there was a spot just below her ear that when he brushed his thumb over it, she would practically vibrate as she shivered. “Mmmm, as much as I love kissing you, why don’t we start planning that London get together,” she pulled out her phone. “I was planning on leaving Wednesday afternoon, I don’t have to be there til Friday afternoon, so do we wanna change flights completely, or see if I can get on yours, which is when again?” Richard chuckled at her and kissed her behind the ear,  
“You really do like to plan things out, don’t you?” She nodded as he pulled his own phone from his pocket, conveniently located in the pocket she was sitting on.  
“Oi! Watch where you’re puttin’ those hands, mate!”  
“But I thought you liked it when I touched you there…” he did it again and she squealed before climbing to the complete other end of the couch. “Aww, now that’s not fair, I can’t reach you from there!” he pouted. Belle stuck her tongue out at him in return. Finally having his phone out, he turned to lay on the sofa and let his head land in her lap. “I like this view!” he teased her.  
“Dear God, you’re terrible!...So when were you flying out?” she asked again.   
“I was actually leaving Wednesday morning, why don’t I book another flight for the morning so we know we’re on the same one, then you can come stay with me and we can go exploring Thursday and I’ll go with you to your convention thing, how does that sound?” Richard replied, looking for the airline to renegotiate flights.  
“I think that might work, but if it’s all the same to you, I think a hotel would be better for me,” she said, biting her lip.  
“It is not all the same to me, I want you with me. We’re together now, right?!”  
“Yeah, but don’t you think it’s moving awfully fast. I mean we don’t wanna overwhelm each other do we. We might get sick of each other before the weekends out!” she joked.   
“Sorry, Sweetheart, but I don’t think I’m ever gonna get tired of you in my life!” Richard said, tugging on her curls. She wrinkled her nose and smiled down at him.  
“Well, I know I’ll never get tired of you either, so I guess that’s settled. I’ll cancel both my flight and hotel and let the car company know I’ll be staying elsewhere. Wait, I can get Dani to do all this!” she texted Dani, then set her phone on the table. “Oh, by the way, I think I need to confess something to you. That vendor you bought your Star Wars coat from is actually one of mine. It’s under Geek Street Chic. Just thought I should let you know that.” Richard rolled his eyes,  
“Any other ground shaking confessions I need to know about?” she shook her head “So, you didn’t actually buy that dress did you? and neither did your family, did they?” She shook her head again,  
“But you and Ben did buy your jackets from me, and I gave you the friends and family discount too. The rest of us were just picking up our stuff from Marianne, she makes the vast majority of the bespoke pieces for the company. Oh, which reminds me, We need to get you you a real costume instead of your closet cosplay Grease gear. What character should we do…”  
“Well I can tell you I’m not doing any of my actual characters-”  
“Oh I knew that!” Belle rolled her eyes at him. “That would get you mobbed! No, it’s gotta be something no one would recognize you in, like Vader...Ha, you would make a good Wookiee, but I’m not gonna put you in head to toe hair your first go round!” she laughed.  
“Thanks for that!” he replied. “Hey, what about something else Star Wars, I like the Vader idea, or a Trooper, just no Naboo Pilot…”  
“Actually that would be totally unexpected, a Naboo Pilot is a great idea! As is Vader, but will you be ok with the heat of wearing Vader?”  
“Honey, if I can wear Thorin for eight monthes straight, I can stand a few hours in a Vader suit.”  
“Ok, but Luke Skywalker was right, you really can’t see a thing on those helmets. Vader’s actually easier than my Trooper helmet because the eyes are bigger, but you’ll need a handler just like most of us do when we troop. Yay, you’re first costume! Now I gotta find one of the guys in London to help build it. Maybe John or Phil might throw an armour party just for that purpose. I’ll have to ask them,”  
“Might I ask what an armour party is? Or do I want to know?”  
“It’s harmless enough, unless we start drinking...and we usually do start drinking and then we end up singing things like the Imperial theme and The Saga Begins, all while inhaling melting plastic and paint fumes! Then it really is a party!”  
“OOOOooo, armour party FTW!! When is this happening?” Ben asked, coming in with Dani, Cali, and Josh.   
“Sadly for you, it’s taking place in London and you’re not invited!” Belle said, sticking her tongue out at her brother.   
“Fine, then. I’ll just go to Josh and Niki’s and Josh and I can work on our armour. Who are you having your armour party for?”  
“Me,” Richard said sitting up.  
“For real?! Damn, woman, you work fast! Ok, so lemme guess, Trooper or Jedi?”  
“Pssh, those are so 1977, we’re going full Vader, baby!” Belle replied.  
“Whoah! We’re pulling out the big guns! Way to go, Rich, welcome to the family that is known as the 501st!” Josh said shaking his hand.  
“Thanks, I think it’ll be fun going round the con floor dressed as Vader and nobody will even recognize me. Wow, I sound really geeky don’t I?!” Richard said, blushing.  
“Never deny your inner geek, it tends to build up inside you and explode out when you least expect it,” Josh replied, sitting down across from his sister-in-law and her boyfriend. Cali joined them.   
“Yeah, like you and the lightsaber wa back at Comicpalooza?! Basically he became and eight year old girl!”  
“But it was so pwiddy!” Josh said, re-enacting his voice and hand motions from the incident.  
“Ladies and gentlemen, my brother-in-law, the eight year old fangirl...you see what I have to put up with, and he married my sister, who’s just as bad!” Belle said.  
“I am not! You’re worse than I am!”  
“Honey, not even your son is worse than you are! Remember the whole Daniels thing?!”  
“Ok, I gotta hear this one,” Richard said.  
“Oh please don’t!” Cali whined, but Belle ignored her.  
“Ok, so SDCC 2015, I think you were there for Hannibal too, we went for Geek Street Journal and because D23 was only a few days later and I had to be there for both. Anyway, we’re walking the con floor and all of a sudden Cali starts squealing loudly, flapping her hands like a weirdo and we’re all like “What the hell woman?!” and she points and a little way down the row is both Daniel Radcliffe and Daniel Logan, young Boba Fett, both dressed in full on Boba Fett armour walking the hall and taking pics with random people. I go up and drag her with me because suddenly she can’t move and Daniel, Logan that is, sees me and he practically runs to me cuz we’ve not seen each other in a long while. I introduce him to my family and my little sister who’s suddenly gone mute. He calls Radcliffe over and Cali looks like she’s about to pass the fuck out. She can barely shake the poor man’s hand and he’s trying to talk to her and she’s all internally freaking out. So we take pictures and everything and I tell Radcliffe he just wanted to make all the ladies swoon by going Bounty Hunter on us all and he blushes and says, “Well, we all can’t be Harry Potter!” and we all burst out laughing. He’s got a great sense of humour. Anyway, they go on, we leave to go back to our booth for signing and Cali plops down in the back of the booth and about collapses saying over and over, “I can’t believe I clammed up! I can’t believe I clammed up!” and we’re all going, yeah, but you looked so happy in the pictures and then it’s all “I can’t believe I met Harry Potter! I can’t believe I met Harry Potter!” So never believe her when she says she doesn’t fangirl out!”  
“Why didn’t you come see me if you were there?!” Richard asked, almost hurt.   
“We tried, we tried so many times and it just never happened. We were even in ballrooms next to each other at one point and still couldn’t make it work! It was really starting to piss me off!”  
“So is that when Bryan bought his jacket from you?!”   
“No, we didn’t have that then. We only had a few lines of merch and hadn’t yet started the bespoke quite yet. I wish I knew where he got it though! I totally tweeted you both about it then!”  
“I know, I remember. Dunno why I never messaged you via Twitter, maybe because I’m still social media inept!” Richard said, lifting his eyebrows. Just then his phone rang and Andy his agent, came up on the caller id. “Gotta take this, Love, it concerns our future!” he said as he pecked her on the cheek, “be right back.” Richard moved over towards Belle’s bedroom as Cali moved to sit down next to her sister.  
“I love this guy! I had no idea he was ever gonna be good enough for you, but boy was I way wrong!” she said, laying her head on her sister’s shoulder. Belle grinned,  
“I’m glad you approve, sis!”  
“Hey, I do too, but you knew that already!” Dani finally piped up after getting off the phone herself.   
“Yeah, I did already know that, Female Armitage!” Dani glanced at Richard and saw he’d heard Belle say that, and giggled.   
“You’re gonna have to explain that one to him I think,” Dani replied.  
“Why? Don’t you two have some weird psychic connection thing yet?!”   
“Not yet, anyway, but hey, what’s this text about London flights? Are you cancelling on the event?”  
“Oh no, I’m not. Richard wants me to fly over with him and he’s insisting I stay with him too, that’s all. So he’s making a new flight reservation for the both of us. You’re still coming in on that Friday, right?”  
“Yeah, I’ll be there, just gotta get everybody all settled back in Orlando then I’ll be out there. I’m beat, though, so I dunno how much fun I’m gonna be in London. But you do have a new appointment to take care of over there, glad I just remembered it!’  
“Oh? And what’s that?”  
“Someone with The Really Useful Group wants you to come in and talk about on of their shows on the West End. They wouldn’t give me any details even though I am your PA and they do have to get through me first!”  
“Dani, you realize who that is, don’t you?!”  
“No, should I?”  
“That’s Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company!!” Belle said, as both their eyes got wide.  
“Oh my God, that could mean…”  
“PHANTOM!!!!” Belle, Dani, and Cali all squealed together.  
“Hey, keep it down over there!” Richard called with a wink to Belle.  
“Oh hush you!” she shooed him away, “Go use my bedroom if it’s that important!” she said as she pointed him to her door. “Sierra is gonna wig out when I tell her TRUG wants to talk to me!”  
“Yeah she is, and she’ll probably be jealous too!” Cali added.  
“Ok, so when’s the appointment?” Belle asked picking her phone back up and pulling up her schedule.  
“Monday morning, they said they’d call again Friday or so, just to make sure everything’s still on for you to be in London. But we already know it is. Ok, so it’s three now, should we start getting things ready to pack up for the few of us having to leave tomorrow? Also, shouldn’t you be downstairs getting the costume exhibit ready?”  
“Oh shit, yeah I should-”  
“Don’t worry about it, Cass, Jenna, and Dad are down there now, I’m fixing to go down after I get something to drink and change my shoes. We’ve got it covered! Just make sure you’re there at 5 for the actual event!”  
“When will you learn not to wear those heels, Cali?!” Belle said, poking her sister in the shoulder.  
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Beauty is pain, though!” Belle rolled her eyes as Cali went into her room to change.  
“Ok, what’d I miss? Anything important?” Richard said as he took his place next to Belle back on the couch.  
“Well, yeah, sorta. Dani just told me that The Really Useful Group wants to see me on Monday about a show in the West End,” Belle said as she leaned into him.  
“Whoah, Webber?! That’s a biggie! Did they mention which show?” he asked.  
“No, not yet. They wouldn’t give Dani any details, just said they’d call back Friday to make sure we’d be availible still on Monday.”  
“Oh we’ll make you available then if I have to take you there myself. Dani, are you coming to London too?”  
“Yes, but I won’t be there til Friday. Sam and I are driving the truck back down to Orlando Monday night, so we’ll miss the concert Tuesday,” Dani answered.  
“Aww, that’s too bad. Hey, which reminds me, are there still tickets available for that? I thought I heard somebody in the Disney panel this morning say it was sold out,” he said, a worried look on his face.  
“It is, but we’ve still got three tickets left for family, I believe, I’ve gotta ask your dad to make sure though, he was the one who had them last. In fact I’m gonna go do that now, we can help with the exhibit as well. See ya in a bit,” Dani said. grabbing a water from the fridge and heading out with Cali and Josh. Ben came back out of the other room with his Stargate jacket on took a handful of popcorn before heading back out,   
“Going to see Claud off, then going out to see the rest of the SG crew, you gonna join us after the exhibit?” he said as he headed for the door.  
“I dunno, maybe. Is Jen gonna be there?”  
“Um, yeah I think she or her girlfriend mentioned it to Corrin, but don’t quote me on it,”  
“I’ll think about it, text me and let me know who’s there,” Belle replied.  
“Will do, later Sweets!” Ben said opening the door.  
“Nice jacket!” Richard called after him.  
“Thanks, thought you looked good in yours too!” Ben called back. Belle waited for the door to close.  
“Ah, alone again!”  
“Yeah…” Richard said, raising an eyebrow at her. “We could get into all kinds of trouble!”  
“Oh you are the devil aren’t you…” she giggled.  
“But seriously, I wanted to ask you about that. Are you ok with staying with me in London? I mean really?”  
“Of course. It was nice not sleeping in an empty bed last night. If you’re asking about sex-”  
“No! I mean, I’m not really asking about that, you’ll let me know when you’re ready for that, I’m sure, but-”  
“Richard, it’s ok. I don’t have a problem with anything that could potentially happen between us in the near future, do you?”  
“Not at all. Which brings me to another question and you can smack me if it’s too forward, but would you stay with me tonight again, ya know bring an overnight bag if you need to?” He blushed, still not used to the words coming out of his mouth. Belle smiled.  
“I think that’s a great idea. Besides, everyone probably isn’t going to get much sleep tonight with all the packing and rearranging rooms that’s gonna go on to get ready for tomorrow. We call it Monday Dead Dog Day because of it.”  
“Well in that case, do you wanna just stay with me the rest of the time we’re here?” he asked softly.  
“You really want me with you, don’t you?” Belle smiled softly at him.  
“Yeah...I do,” he said even more softly. Belle caught his lips with hers and kissed him sweetly and softly.  
“Well, you have me.” she replied when she let him go. “Now come help me pack.” She took his hand and pulled him towards her room. He helped her pack up her costume pieces and accessories away to be taken to her home in Golden Oaks, Orlando that she shared with her little brother and Dani and Daniel when they were in Orlando. Then she packed up most of her other clothes, knowing that she’d wash them tomorrow anyway. Once that was done, she packed all of her regular essentials into their bag and she and Richard took them to his room. Once that was done she took Richard down to the ballroom that was being transformed into a gallery for the big Geek Street Chic costume and fashion exhibit that had been promised after the fashion show for guests to meet the creators and get an up close and personal look at the details they might have missed on the runway. Richard was shocked at the level with which some of the exhibitor’s worked on their creations, including the amazingly awesome “Alien Queen and Entourage” that Belle herself had built from the framing up. It looked like something right out of HR Giger’s Alien collection and it definitely deserved the center stage treatment it was going to get. Belle was nervous about having to talk to the general public about the design, she really hated to just stand there in case people had questions or wanted to meet her, but Richard was there and wasn’t afraid of people recognizing him either. For the first time in his life he would turn down autographs and photos unless they were with Belle because he wanted her to shine. After the exhibit was over, Ben called and told her that the SG gang really wanted to see her and would she come over for a bit before dinner. She agreed, not happy that Richard was allowing himself to be dragged to these things just so he could be with her, but he was happy to do it and she didn’t want to disappoint. The reception she got in the SGMT track room was amazing. Everyone was happy to see her and to congratulate her on her successes she’d had since leaving the track. But mostly she was just happy to see her friends enjoying themselves again. They couldn’t believe she’d landed such a hunk of a man as her partner, but they were very happy for her.   
That evening after dinner with the family and the announcement that she would be staying with Richard until they left on Weds, they returned to his room. They both collapsed on the bed and almost fell asleep right there until Belle decided that she needed more wine to help her unwind. Happy to oblige her, he let her change while he poured them some wine. Wondering what was taking her so long in the bedroom, he knocked on the door. When he heard her say come in, he was rather surprised to find her lounging on the bed in nothing but some purple lace lingerie and a matching silk robe. He raised an eyebrow at her.  
“I thought you might like to see what you had now that I’m all yours. Care to join me?” she smirked at him.  
“You know I’m not asking you for sex, right? That’s not why I want you or why I wanted you to stay with me,”  
“I know, you said you’d wait til I was ready. I never said we had to have sex, but if that’s what happens, then that’s what happens. And I’m on the pill anyways. What I’m saying is I want this to work between us and in order for that to happen we have to learn about each other, about what we’re comfortable with. Something you can learn about me is I’d rather be dressed like this at home, or if it’s just you and me,” she replied taking the wine glass her offered. He closed the door, and set his wineglass on the table beside hers and lowered the lights. He went into the bathroom to change and came back in only his boxer-briefs. He sat down on the bed beside Belle and leaned over to kiss her, running his fingers up the outside of her leg. She shivered and giggled into his kiss.   
“How’s your shoulder, Love?” he asked handing her glass to her and taking a drink from his own. “I noticed you didn’t wear the sling at all today.”  
“And I’m feeling it now, which is why I asked for the wine. Self medication is better than popping pain pills.”  
“Good thing I brought the bottle with me, then, isn’t it?” he grinned. She grinned right back and took a long drink from her glass as he moved in to kiss her neck.  
“How bout we get rid of this then,” he said, pulling at the tie of her robe. She set her wine glass aside then let him take the robe off and lay her back in his arms, kissing her deeply as he did. He pulled back a little and looked her body up and down. “God, you’re so beautiful,” he breathed. Her fingers ran up his arms, around his shoulders and up his neck into his hair.   
“You’re not so bad yourself, Honey. Mmm-mmm-mmm…” she hummed, grinning as he came back down to kiss down her neck and across her collarbone, making sure to be extra gentle on her right shoulder. Slowly he ran his nose down towards her breasts and inhaled, breathing in the lovely scent of roses as he dropped soft kisses across the tops of her breasts. His hands roamed down her sides as he moved down her body dropping soft kisses across her exposed skin all the way down to her toes before coming back up and landing at her lips once more. She pulled him over so he was half on top of her as they kissed languidly. Neither was in a hurry, they just wanted to get to know each other’s bodies, gently touching and kissing. Belle ran her fingernails over his arms and across his back and it made him moan into her mouth when her nails grazed his sides. He was slightly ticklish there, but her fingernails felt so good across his skin. She kissed across his cheekbone and down his face to his jawline, where her tongue lightly flicked out as she traced the line from the edge of his jawbone down his neck. His musky sweat mixed with the scent of his cologne was intoxicating. As she sucked at the tendon in his neck, he gently bit into her good shoulder as he lifted her leg to run his fingers along the underside of her thigh to the back of her knee. She jumped a little when he reached the back of her knee.  
“Mmm, so you’re ticklish there are you..” he whispered against her neck.  
“Not ticklish per say, just sensitive. When you run your fingers back there it sends sparks through me,”  
“Good to know. It does the same when your nails run along my sides and the back of my waist,”  
“Like this?” Belle whispered as she ran her fingernails just along the top edge of his briefs. He shuddered,  
“Mmmm...just like that…” he replied softly, dipping his face down to lick at the tops of her breasts. She whimpered when he did that and he knew he’d discovered something else she liked as her fingernails found his scalp and massaged as he kissed her there, dipping his tongue just a little down into her cleavage..  
“Oh God, Richard…” she whined softly as her head fell back into the pillows and her back gently arched into his hold. He smiled as he kissed down her stomach, giving special attention the skin just below her bra line and down her sides. She moaned softly when his ran his nose along that same line of skin. When he lifted up to kiss her lips again, he noted her closed eyes and gentle breathing and realized he’d relaxed her so much she’d fallen asleep. He chuckled to himself, but he couldn’t blame her, she’d had a rather busy day, despite their attempt to relax earlier in the afternoon. He took their wine glasses and put them in the ice bucket with the wine then switched off the lights. He pulled the covers up and covered them both before wrapping an arm around her. She shifted slightly and rested her head against his chest as he lay on his side, gently stroking her arm, mesmerized by her gentle beauty and total trust in him.  
“Sleep, My Angel, and know that I love you,” he whispered against her forehead, before kissing it and settling in for the night.

The next morning it was time to say the goodbyes to most of her friends from the con at the farewell breakfast. They all dressed casually, a few still wearing costumes as there were still a few small events and panels left that day, but mostly it was closing time for all involved. Ben was staying with the family, so he helped the others finish packing and rearranging the hotel rooms to consolidate. After they’d said their goodbyes to other guests that they knew or had made friends with and everyone had exchanged info to keep in touch, everyone headed to their respective track rooms or vendors booths to start packing up the big stuff. Everyone in the vendors halls put their wares on sale and even those in Artist’s Alley did the same. Belle stopped by both her track room and the costume exhibit ballroom to make sure everything was getting packed up as it should be and no pieces of any display, costume, or prop were lost in the craziness. A little while later Belle sent Richard with Zach, Josh, Sam, and Ben to go play pool and mini golf in the game room while she and the girls went to the spa to relax for a bit. Sierra and Lea met them there and couldn’t get over Belle’s good luck to be called in by TRUG.   
“You had your time in Webber’s spotlight, it’s my turn now!” Belle said as Sierra hugged her. After their relaxation period and pampering was over, they returned to their respective rooms. Up in the family suite, everyone gathered in the living area to share stories of what they loved the most for those who were attending for the first time. The rest of them told about the best highlights for this year and what they might change for the next year. Costume ideas were discussed and plotted for next year while plenty of champagne and snacks were eaten. Richard’s highlight was most definitely Belle, and Belle’s was most definitely Richard, while the rest of the family decided that the whole situation might have been the absolute best thing to happen for the year, not to mention the con. Yeah they didn’t like the fact that Belle had been hurt in the process, even Richard was still angry about that, but the happiness they saw in the couple’s eyes far outweighed the negative. The only thing left for them at Dragon was the Dead Dog Party that night, which most of them would go to if only just to see friends before they left. Richard and Belle decided to forego the party and turn in early to be ready for Tuesday’s concert. The event was sold out and it was the kick off for the short concert tour that would play in only 5 stops in the US. Atlanta was first, then came New York a week later, another in Dallas, then the final in San Diego. The same cast was scheduled to be at all the performances and that fact had lead to the sold out venues in all but two of the venues. Belle would be able to go to London for her convention and to spend time with Richard, then she’d have to come back to New York for the next concert. She wasn’t sure how the relationship was going to work after that with both of them in two different places most of the time, but she hoped that their love would be strong enough to keep them together no matter what came their way. And with The Really Useful Group meeting, that schedule might prove a little more difficult to work around.  
Richard decided that he would go to the theatre with Belle and watch their rehearsals just so he could be near her. He knew their time together was coming to an end soon and they’d be stuck far away from each other with busy schedules occupying their time. He hoped that she’d still want to be with him when the separation hit, but he was fairly certain that she would. Neither one of them where getting any younger and he desperately wanted to start a family with this woman. But both of them had their careers and he would never ask her to give up any of that for him, even though he would gladly support their family on his own if the need arose. He wondered if she would ever ask him the deal-breaking question of whether or not he would give up his career for her, even though he was fairly sure she wasn’t that kind of person, knowing how passionate they both where about what they did.   
Rehearsals done, Belle took Richard backstage to her dressing room to start getting ready.   
“Enjoy our little antics?” she asked as he sat watching a hairstylist do her hair. He grinned,  
“I did. You guys have a great chemistry. It’s a good thing Barrowman’s married though...I wonder how his husband feels about his flirting.”  
“Yeah, I think Harkness was written specifically for him sometimes!” Belle replied. Sierra stuck her head in the door and came to sit down with her friend.  
“So I heard that Webber is working on a new show. Do you think that’s what he’s asked you in for?” she asked.  
“I don’t know, but that would be brilliant if it were. Though you already know I’d happily settle for a limited run as Christine! Please God, let it be that too!!” Belle replied raising her hands in prayer.  
“That would be so perfect, then we could have this little Disney Princess/Christine Daae club!”  
“We are such nerds!”  
“Truth!” Sierra giggled raising her fist in salute. “So I have to know, how in the world did you land that dreamboat over there,” she asked, nodding toward Richard.  
“Well, you see, Once Upon A Time there was this theatre expo in London where we met for like Ten Minutes then he ran off at midnight and we found each other again @ Dragon. It really sorta was a fairytale to be completely honest!” Belle replied, grinning at Richard.  
“Yeah, I finally found my princess!” Richard said, winking at her.  
“Aww, that’s so romantic! You need to tell that story tonight, we can add it into the Cinderella segment, I mean if that’s ok with the two of you,” Sierra said hopefully.   
“If it’s ok with Richard, I think that would be a wonderful idea!”  
“It’s up to you, Sweetheart. But I kinda like that idea. Even if I can’t be with you the rest of the concert dates, we can still sort of have our moment,” he said, kissing her hand.  
“Ok, and I thought Barrowman was mushy!” Sierra laughed.  
The concert was fantastic and Belle’s whole family was delighted with what she’d created and couldn’t wait to congratulate the whole cast on a perfectly magical night. They all went out for drinks afterward and said their goodbyes until the following week in New York. Belle couldn’t stop humming all the way back to their room and she pulled Richard into a little waltz once they were behind closed doors, wearing nothing but their underwear. They giggled and laughed at each other as they acted like a sappy prince and princess. Richard picked her up and dove with her onto the bed before kissing her passionately.  
“You really are my Cinderella, ya know that!” he said.  
“I’d rather be your Belle, but then that would make you a Beast, so how about we go with The Little Mermaid, I’ll be Ariel and you can be Eric, I think that’s a better comparison!” Belle giggled as Richard kissed all over her face.  
“I think I can live with that, My Little Mermaid Princess!” he whispered against her lips before kissing her deeply.   
“Mmmm, you taste so good, but I’m exhausted. Dragon Lag has already set in and I don’t know how I’m going to survive this next weekend of events!” she groaned rubbing her face. Richard pecked the end of her nose.  
“We do have three days to get ready for it, so maybe that will help some. If it doesn’t, I’ll be right beside you to help in any way I can,” he said, gathering her in his arms.   
"Yeah, but I'm still gonna be a zombie!"  
"Hmmm, Zombie Princess...I can live with that. Oh, by the way, Amanda asked Martin to ask me for your number so the two of you could maybe meet up while you're over with me," Richard said as he switched off the lights.   
"You wasted no time in telling everyone I was coming home with you!" Belle mused, snuggling into his chest.  
"Technically I didn't, apparently Amanda looked up your schedule and saw that you would be in London and just assumed you'd be with me. They also invited us for dinner," he replied. Belle giggled,  
"Well, you were right, we do get on well and I think Amanda and I will be good friends...we're both devious!"   
"You can say that again!" Richard chuckled.  
"Hush you, and go to sleep. I'm tired!" Belle said turning over and scooting back against him. He wrapped his arms around her and they settled in for sleep.  
The next day, they said their goodbyes to Belle’s family and hopped the plane to cross the pond. Once there, they stopped for lunch at Richard's favorite pub, then went to his flat. He had forgotten that the maid had the week off and he hadn't cleaned up anything before he'd left.  
"Just leave it, Honey, mine looks worse, as you'll find out soon enough, well at least my own room does!" Belle said as Richard took her bags to his room. She followed him and once her bags were put where she could access them easily, he pulled her into his arms for a sweet kiss. "What was that for?" she asked when he finally pulled away.  
"Do I need a reason?" he asked in return.  
"Well, no, I don't suppose so. It was just unexpected is all," she replied, "but a good unexpected!"   
"So, what do you wanna do first?" Richard asked.  
"Um, how about change and go back to bed, I'm still tired!" Belle whined. Richard chuckled,  
"I think we can arrange that. Want help?"  
"With what? Changing?"  
"Maybe..."  
"You just wanna take off my clothes, don't you Mister Armitage?"  
"Yeah, ok, you got me! But isn't that how you like to lounge?" he said, beginning to lift her t-shirt, his fingertips ghosting over the skin above her skirt.  
"It is...but turnabout's fair play, Love!" she said, doing the same with his t-shirt.  
"Fine by me!" he replied, pecking her on the nose as he swiftly took off her shirt. She lifted his free and they both tossed them on the floor before Belle lifted up on her toes and kissed him again. He quickly pulled her body flush against his and returned her hungry kisses. She quickly freed him of his jeans, pushing them off his hips. He finished removing them, then slid down her body, kissing her as he went. He undid her skirt slowly as he kissed her stomach and hooked his fingers under the edge of her skirt and slowly slid it down, his hands running down over the back of her rear, her thighs, her knees, and her calves as he helped her step out of it. He was about to pick her up and toss her on the bed, but she pushed him back into it. It hit the backs of his legs and he fell flat on his back as she crawled onto the bed next to him . He pulled the pins from her hair and let her hair fall loose around her shoulders. He was going to pull her on top of him, but she shook her head at him. She intertwined their fingers and pushed his hands above his head as she leaned down to kiss him languidly. He groaned into her mouth as she rolled her hips against his. He’d not been expecting this so soon, but he wasn’t about to stop her. She was mesmerizing, intoxicating, and completely enchanting and he loved every bit of it. She broke from his lips and kissed across his cheek to his earlobe where she gently nibbled.   
“Let me have my way with you and I’ll let you have your way with me, deal?” she whispered in his ear. He nodded vigorously.  
“Deal, Sexy…” he rasped. Her authoritative control over him was mind-blowingly sexy and he be willing for her to do this whenever she wanted. Neither of them could believe that this was happening, and so soon, but neither cared because they were both totally in love. Belle took her time to kiss across his jawline and every inch of his face. She finally let him have the use of his hands back and he tenderly ran them over her body. She let him hook his fingers in the back of her bra and unhook it. She’d worn the same matching purple lace set she’d worn the other night when she’d fallen asleep on him. She took the bra off and flung it somewhere else in the room, then moved to her knees to take off her panties. He let out a deep groan as he surveyed her body. She was gorgeous and he wanted to touch more of her, but she swatted his hands away before hooking her fingers in his boxer-briefs and sliding them off him to reveal his raging erection. Belle bit her lip. Shit he was big, but oh did he look delicious. She resumed her kissing at his jawline and slowly took her time as she made her way down his body, kissing, licking, and gently biting as she went. She ran her nails down his arms and across his chest, through his curly fur. She didn’t usually like too much fur, but his was just right, and she loved they way he shivered and groaned when she bit and scraped with her nails and teeth. She made sure to pay special attention to his nipples before continuing down his chest along his well defined torso muscles until she made it to his hips. She dipped her tongue in his navel and he squirmed and moaned, making her smile wickedly before continuing on down to bite at his hip bones and run her nails down his thighs and down the back of his calves. He shivered again as she kissed up one thigh, skipping his groin, then kissed back down the other. Finally when he thought he could stand it no longer, she placed a light kiss on the head of his deep red and purple cock, making him moan loudly as a drop of clear liquid dripped from his slit. She swirled her tongue around the head as she gripped him hard before she took him in her mouth and sucked gently. His hands fisted in her hair and he bucked his hips up involuntarily. Belle changed positions so her body was lying beside his, her knees up towards his head, giving him very easy access to her nether regions. When her scent finally reached his nose, one hand left her head to slide along her moist nether lips before plunging inside them and into her depths. She moaned as he curled his finger inside her and his thumb found purchase on her erect nubbin. Her head bobbed up and down in him as he twisted to place a kiss on her mons before lifting her leg and pulling her closer. He licked at her lips before plunging his tongue between them and lapping up her juices. Her mouth moved faster on his cock as he made her whimper and her hand gripped him harder, twisting with every stroke. He began to suck on her nubbin and thrust two and three fingers in her, curling them and rubbing that sensitive area within her. Her mouth began to stutter as she began to get closer to the edge of her ecstasy. He worked his mouth and fingers on her harder and she clamped down on him hard as she came hard in his mouth. He moaned and she released his length from her mouth with a pop.   
“Oh God, Richard. Shit, that feels amazing!” she whimpered as he licked her clean.  
“Yeah it was, your mouth is amazing too. Now I wanna make love to you,” he said, picking her up and rearranging their position on the bed. He laid her back against the pillows and kissed her hard and hungry as his hands roamed all over her body. Tweaking her nipples, he elicited many whimpers and moans as he attempted to devour her body with his mouth. “I’ll try not to leave marks where anyone can see,” he growled as he sucked a nipple into his mouth, laving and gently biting until it was red and Belle was moaning as she ran her fingers through his hair, her nails gently scratching his scalp. His hand found her wet heat again and made sure she was really wet before he positioned himself between her legs and eased his length slowly into her depths. Before he was fully sheathed in her wet warmth she was squealing out moans as she writhed underneath him. He ever so slowly pulled back out and pushed back in as his mouth attacked her neck, wanting to make their joining last as long as possible.   
“Fuck, Richard, you’re so huge!” she moaned as he slowly thrust into her as she helped him by rolling her hips against his.   
“God, you feel amazing, Baby,” he gasped as her muscles squeezed him with every thrust. She pulled his face to hers and kissed him with all the love she had for him. Richard reached between them and found her nub with his fingers. As he rubbed, Belle became a speechless, writhing mess below him as he plunged her depths driving them both towards mind-blowing orgasm after earth-shattering orgasm. Later that afternoon, after hours of making amazing love, they lay next to each other, absolutely exhausted and sated beyond belief.   
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this,” Belle whispered as Richard twirled a curl around his finger. He kissed the end of her nose as they lay there on their sides, facing each other and basking in the lovely afterglow.   
“Oh, I think I do. I’ve thought about it ever since the expo. Dreamed about it even. The time from them to now, I’ve never wanked so much in my life,” Richard whispered, almost embarrassed to say so.  
“Seriously?”  
“And always with your face in my mind. That first night at Dragon was just as bad. I couldn’t get rid of the raging hardon with all the dirty thoughts I was having about you!”  
“Well, would it surprise you to know that I had the same problem that night. I dreamed you did all kinds of unspeakably naughty things to me, all of which just finally came true right in this bed!” she giggled. He laughed out loud as he ran a hand through his hair.   
“And here I was worried about sounding like a pervert...God I love you!” he said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her neck sweetly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him,  
“I love you too, Sweetheart. More than I ever thought possible in such a short time,” she replied.  
“But it hasn’t been a short time, it’s been years, remember. I loved you from the moment you smiled at me at the expo,” he kissed her cheek lightly, once right under each eye.   
“And I loved you from the moment you made your agent mad by coming to speak to me!...I guess it really has been years!”  
“And here’s the many more to come,” Richard said, “Lemme go get the wine, and we can toast!”  
“You crazy dork!” Belle laughed at him as he scampered out into the kitchen butt naked. “It’s a good thing your neighbors don’t have windows that are closer or you’d be in trouble mister!” she called after him.   
“Oh shit...the blinds are open…” she heard him say before she heard a clatter of glasses and a sundry of other noises before he came running back in with the glasses and bottle in one hand and a sofa pillow over his crotch in the other. The picture sent Belle into a fit of hysterical laughter.   
“Oh. My. God! That is the funniest thing ever!!” she snorted. “And I was only teasing!!!” Her laughter was almost as funny as the picture of him running into the bedroom had been.  
“It’s not funny! That woman has a telescope pointed at my windows! It’s a miracle she’s never come over here!”  
“You realize the show we just gave her, right?” Belle tried to say with a straight face. Richard looked at her horrified,  
“Oh God! Andy’s gonna kill me if pictures end up on the internet and every gossip magazine this side of the pond!”  
“Not the mention Ben, and Sam, and Zack!” Belle added, still finding the whole situation hilarious. “They’re prolly gonna kill you and make me watch before killing me!” she moaned as Richard ran to the window to close the blinds and curtains. “While you’re at it, why don’t get get a padlock for the flat and we’ll never leave it again, they can just air-drop food and the necessities onto the patio out there!” She had rolled on her stomach and buried her face in the pillow.  
“I think that might actually be a fair idea…here, have some wine, maybe it’ll make us feel better!”  
“You did plenty to make me feel good, honey. Why don’t you do it again!” she smirked at him as she peeked out from under the pillow.  
“You’re insatiable!” he grinned back at her. He handed her a glass of wine and they sat there, throwing ideas about how to quietly sneak off to a desert island where no one would know them just in case pictures did end up on the internet.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day was decidedly slower as they tried to go out and explore without being noticed. Dinner at Martin and Amanda’s that evening was nice and relaxing, until Belle told Amanda about their little escapade Wednesday afternoon and the night descended into lewd stories from set and jokes about everything under the sun. Richard had been right, Belle and Amanda became great friends that evening as they’d already begun to bond at their previous encounter in Atlanta. Belle finally drew the line when Martin mentioned something about Richard knocking her up to make sure she stayed and she laid down the law on him, much to Amanda’s applause. Belle let him know that when they had children, for they were already certain there would be children in their life, that they would be solidly married before then! Thoroughly rebuffed, Martin conceded as they rose to leave, citing an early morning for Belle for their early departure. Amanda texted Belle almost as soon as they left to make sure Martin hadn’t been the reason for their departure and Belle reassured her that he hadn’t and that she really did have an early morning prepping for her convention that weekend.  
Richard had really wanted to leave early so he could get Belle back in bed, not just so she could rest, but so that he could do other things to her. Belle dissolved into a fit of giggling as Richard attacked her body, but that only lasted a very short time as they both realized how exhausted they were and decided to turn in for the night instead of re-enacting their earlier love fest.   
The next morning, Belle made sure Dani knew Richard’s address so they could go over schedules for the weekend when she arrived that afternoon. Once she had arrived and gone over everything with them, they readied themselves for the weekend plans. Belle handed Richard a leather bound copy of her book series, which was rather large, and he almost immediately started reading it as the girls got ready for the Baker Street Irregulars’ dinner that evening.   
“You’re not going to come tonight? Or were you planning on going in your sweatpants?” Belle asked as she came out of the bedroom in a lavender, knee length dress, the top of which looked like a large rose. It off-set her auburn hair and blue-green eyes perfectly.  
“Shit! How much time do I have?” Richard said jumping up from the sofa.  
“Plenty, a whole hour. Got a little absorbed in the book, did we?” Belle asked as he gently set it on the coffee-table and moved to her. He nodded,  
“Sorry, but yeah, it’s incredible. And you look incredible, Sweetheart...well maybe delicious is a better fitting word,” he added in a whisper as he leaned down to nibble on her ear.  
“There’s no time for that, and we have company. Now go get dressed, Casanova!” she swatted him on the butt and he jumped, pecking her on the end of the nose before winking at Dani and disappearing in their bedroom.  
“You two are so adorable together, ya know that. He’s really in love with you, honey!” Dani said as she and Belle sat down to wait for him.  
“And I’m head over heels in it for him. I can’t even imagine being a spinster now, it’s like we’ve been together for years rather than only a couple weeks. I had a dream last night that he came and rescued me at the opening night of the Club. It was more of a nightmare, but he saved the day, so it ended well. He really is amazing, Dani!” Belle gushed. Dani grinned at her.  
“Ya’ll are so sappy!” she laughed.  
“Sappy and adorable!” Belle replied cheerily. They both laughed. It wasn’t long until Richard came back out in a pair of slacks, dress shirt and sports jacket.   
“Boy, you clean up nicely. Umpf…” Belle said as he checked his hair in the mirror. She got up and put her arms around him from behind. “Sexy, sexy man of mine!” she whispered. He turned in her hold and kissed her lightly, not wanting to muss her lipstick.  
“Sexy woman of mine!” he whispered back. “Hey, while I’m thinking about it and we look presentable, Dani, will you take our picture? I want to remember this look on her before I rip it off tonight,” he winked at Dani and Belle gently punched him in the ribs.  
“Ok, you two, no sexy-time til I leave, please!” Dani said taking Richard’s phone. Belle raised an eyebrow at him as he pulled her into his side. Dani snapped the pic, then snapped another one when Richard cupped Belle’s cheek and kissed her gently.   
“I love you, angel of mine,” he whispered against her cheek. Belle blushed,  
“I love you, too, my prince charming,” she smiled as he ran his nose against her temple. “We’d better get going before I get sick, my stomach is eating me from the inside out!”  
“Me too! Lunch didn’t hold me long enough!” Dani agreed. Richard kept his arm around his beloved’s waist all the way to the hotel where dinner was going to be served. There was a rather large crowd milling around the ballroom as the three of them made their way to their table. Half-way there Belle heard a familiar voice call her name  
“Belle? Is that you? Or should I call you Ms. Starr?”  
“Timothy Evers! I wasn’t expecting to see you here! How are you?” she said as he hugged her tightly.  
“Well, and you?”  
“Wonderful, thanks. By the way this is Danielle, my PA, and my partner, Richard Armitage. Richard, Timothy Evers, an old theatre friend and fellow Holmesian!” Belle said as she introduced the three. She didn’t miss the sizing up between the two men.   
“I read your book. I like the changes you made, but there’s still too much romance for me,” Tim said.  
“There’s always too much romance for you, even when there isn’t any at all!” Belle replied, rolling her eyes at him. Richard held her firmly against his side still and she smirked at the jealousy she saw in his eyes.   
“True that. Anyway, I hope we can catch up this weekend. It’s been too long.” Tim said as he was being lead away by a very jealous woman.  
“Sounds like a plan. Later,” Tim nodded and Belle tried to hold back a giggle. “And you thought you were jealous. Did you see her face, and the glares she gave me. Thank God looks can’t kill!” Belle said as the three of them continued to their table.  
“What makes you say that? I wasn’t jealous…” Richard asked Belle as he pulled the chair out for her.  
“Oh honey, as blue as your eyes are, they were bright green the whole time that man was talking to Belle!” Dani smirked. “You was jealous!”  
“I wasn’t jealous,” Richard repeated under his breath.  
“It’s ok, Sweetheart, a little jealousy is totally fine with me. But rest assured, you have nothing to worry about. There’s only one man I love and only that man whom I’ll ever have desire for, and that man is you, Richard!” Belle said, taking his hand in hers and kissing it, making sure he could see the seriousness in her eyes. He blinked a few times, knowing he was caught, then softened into a smile as she gazed at him. He was helpless against her. Richard knew that she loved him, and he knew that he’d always be defenseless against her smiles, or tears, or anger; and he would gladly take any of it that she would give him. He felt like he was back in high school, emotions and lusts running high. He just had to remind himself, she was really his.   
Dinner that night was lovely. There were readings of short works about The Great Detective, songs, and even a short skit. Towards the end of the dinner were the awards, and Belle won the accolade of the year for the completion of her book series. Richard wasn’t too happy that it was awarded by Timothy Evers, or that he kissed her as he gave her the large plaque, but he was exceedingly pleased and excited that she’d won such an honour. He felt prouder of her than if he’d won an award, and it made him happy to feel like that.   
“I’m so happy for you, Sweetheart. From the little that I’ve read so far, you definitely deserve the accolades!” he said as they rode the lift up to his flat.   
“Thank you, Darling. I’m so glad you were there. I’m not sure I could have gotten through it without seeing your face in the crowd,” Belle said as she leaned against him. Richard was chuffed. He kissed the top of her head as they walked to the door of his flat. He picked her up and carried her from the door to the bedroom, stopping to deposit the plaque on the kitchen counter before continuing and setting her down on the bed as he attacked her with kisses.  
“I’m so proud of you, Sweetness,” he said between kisses. She giggled as he kissed her all over while he undressed her. She finally pulled him up to her lips for a deep kiss as they lost themselves in each other.   
The rest of the weekend was a success and Richard liked attending a convention as a bystander and not having to deal with recognition. For once he was very happy to watch Belle receive all the attention. He found out that within the realm of the Holmes world she’d participated in several different projects. She’d not only written the book series, but she’d directed a series of radio shows, directed a play in London, and was soon to be playing a role on the BBC series SHERLOCK with Martin and Benedict. He laughed at that, and wondered how that had happened. When he asked her about it, she just said she’d known about it, but wasn’t sure Ben or Martin even knew yet as shooting wasn’t going to take place until much later the next year.  
After the convention was over, Belle had the meeting with The Really Useful Group, then two days to themselves to do whatever they felt like before Belle had to hop on a plane and head back to the states for the concert tour and shooting of three new music videos with the band. That trip to the airport wasn’t as much fun as their previous one had been.  
“I’m really going to miss being with you, Darling,” Belle said as Richard held her tightly against his body, his cheek resting on the top of her head.  
“Me too. Not being able to kiss you whenever I want is probably going to do me in,” he replied with a chuckle. “God, I miss you already!” he breathed.  
“Me too. But we can text and Skype whenever we want, everyday if need be. I know it won’t be the same, but at least we know that in a few months I’ll be back for awhile with workshops for the new show, shooting for Holmes, and spending my off days with you. That is if you’re going to be home then!”  
“We’ll work that out when we get there. I love you, Honey. Now you’d better go inside before I don’t let you leave, or make you miss your flight on purpose,” Richard replied. His eyes shown with a little sadness.  
“I love you too, Baby! I’ll see you soon, alright!” Belle replied, lifting up on her toes to kiss him tenderly. He held her tightly, still, and kissed her back before she pulled away and grabbed her bag to head inside. “No goodbyes, because we’ll see each other soon. Now go catch your plane,” Richard said. Belle nodded, kissed him one last time quickly, and left him standing on the curb. Richard watched her walk inside. He waved when she turned around and smiled at him once more before disappearing in the crowd. He got back in the cab and headed back to his flat where he picked up her book and started reading again. He read and read far into the day, only stopping once to grab something to eat, before picking the book back up and continuing into the night. His phone rang and woke him from his sleep, the book still lying on his chest.   
“Hello?”  
“Hi Baby! Did I wake you?”  
“Uh, yeah, I guess you did. I must have fallen asleep reading, cuz I was having this great dream about you and me and our kids…”  
“Aww, how many?”  
“How many what?”  
“How many kids did we have?”  
“Um, three…” he yawned, “sorry, couldn’t help myself.”  
“That’s alright, honey. I was just calling to say I got home safe. I actually just woke up myself, took a nap when I got home and lost track of time,”  
“Flight went alright?”  
“Yep, and I didn’t lose any luggage this time around. Last time I came home from London, I lost three bags, it took them three monthes to find them and get them back to me. Thank God for those Death By Glitter and Star Wars stickers all over them!” Belle said. Richard chuckled.  
“Glad to hear you got in safe, Sweetheart. I was just sitting here thinking about you when I fell asleep. Guess I was daydreaming about you too,” Richard replied.  
“And all those daydreams were good, right? Nice and juicy?” she giggled. Richard laughed,  
“Maybe. Though the one with the kids was lovely. How long do we have to wait for that again?” he asked.  
“I hadn’t thought about that. We do need to get married first, then I’d say maybe a year...what do you think?” she replied.  
“Wait, we’re actually talking about this now?” he chuckled.  
“Don’t tell me you were joking,” Belle said. “You sounded sincere…”  
“Honestly, I think I was, I am. But maybe we should wait...I don’t know…”  
“I think maybe we should wait ‘til we’re back face to face. This over the phone stuff is for the birds, but at least we can hear each other’s voices.”  
“Yeah, I’d rather have you here with me, so I could do all kinds of naughty things to you...what are you wearing right now?”  
“Richard! Haven’t we had this conversation before...I seem to recall something similar from just a week or so ago!” Belle laughed. Richard laughed too,  
“I think you’re right about that, but no changing the subject this time, Ms. Starr!”  
“Alright then, I’m not wearing anything at the moment. I’m just about to step into a hot bath, how about you?”  
“Mmmm, that sounds delightful. I’m just wearing sweatpants, so sexy…” Richard winged. Belle laughed,  
“Very sexy, actually, if it’s those same navy ones that cup your ass so nicely.”  
“They are. Fuck, I’m getting hard just thinking about your naked body and how much I wanna run my hands all over you, not to mention my mouth. I miss the way you taste,” Richard groaned. He heard her whimper on the other end of the line. “Baby, are you touching yourself?”  
“Mmmhmm. I can’t help it. I miss your touch….I’m imagining your mouth on my breasts as you fuck me with your fingers…” she moaned.  
“Fuck, Belle. That’s so sexy...tell me more, what else are you imagining I’m doing to you?” Richard couldn’t help but rub his erection as he imagined his beautiful girlfriend fingering herself. “Are you in the tub or on the bed?”  
“The bed, I’m imagining you licking my body from my breasts down to my pussy. I love it how you suck on my clit and make me cream before you thrust your fingers deep inside me. Fuck, Richard. This is really turning me on. I’m glad no one else is home.” Richard was turned on too. He freed his erection and gripped it hard.  
“I’m imagining you using your gorgeous lips and tongue on my dick, the way you swirl your tongue around the head before taking me in your mouth and sucking.” Belle moaned over the phone and his cock twitched.   
“Oh fuck, Richard, I’m getting close. Tell me how you’d eat my pussy…” she gasped. She was breathing heavy and Richard began to wank off as he told her what he’d do.  
“I’d lick your cunt up and down, sucking on your lips before taking your clit between my lips and sucking hard, fucking you with my fingers,”  
“Oh God, yes, that’s it…”  
“Then I’d run your little nub between my teeth until you were thrashing on the bed beneath me as I curled my fingers inside you and fucked you mercilessly. I’d have you screaming my name so loud the neighbors would hear down the street. But I wouldn’t let you cum yet. I’d stop before you went over the edge, but you’d be so wet, you’d be begging me for release. That’s when I’d plunge my hard cock into your wet cunt and fuck you until you couldn’t make a sound. God, I think I’m gonna cum myself.” Richard could hear the sound of Belle fucking herself with a vibrator and he wanked hard as he heard her scream and gasp as her orgasm washed over her. He came just a few seconds later with her name on his lips.  
“I’ve...never done...that...before…” Belle gasped. Then she giggled, “That was so much fun. We might have to do that again sometime!” Richard chuckled at her.  
“I’ve never done that either. Apparently my imagination is much better than I realized….the things the thought of you does to me! Wow!” he said, still breathing heavy. “God, I miss you so much and it hasn’t even been a whole day yet. This separation is gonna do me in…”  
“Yeah, me too! I should probably let you get to bed, no more reading either, straight to bed,” Belle joked. Her laughter made Richard smile, he loved that she could make him laugh so easily.  
“Yes, ma’am. Straight to bed it is...after I clean up, that is. You know I really don’t want to hang up with you. We can still talk while you take a bath, right?”   
“Richard, come on. You need rest too, or I might just have Amanda sic Martin on you, or worse, Lee!” Belle laughed.  
“Alright, alright, you win. I love you, Baby. Enjoy your bath and I’ll say goodnight and sweet dreams now.”  
“Good. I love you too, Richard. And I hope you have wonderful dreams as well. ‘Night.”  
“Night…” Richard heard the click of the line going dead and he hung up. He looked at his mobile wallpaper, the picture of them in their matching outfits, and smiled, sighing. He wished she were there with him, but he was content just knowing they belonged to each other. The next couple of weeks was going to be hard unless he forcibly made himself stay busy and not think of how far apart, halfway around the world to be exact, they were. 

The long three months finally passed and Richard was waiting at the airport terminal for Belle to come out to the limo. He had wanted to stand at baggage claim with the car service men and women and hold a sign up that read ‘Sexy’, but he was afraid of being recognized and he knew she’d kill him if he did do that. Finally he saw her and he quickly switched to the rear facing seat so she wouldn’t see him when she got in. The driver held open the door for her while she tossed her bag in the far seat and slid in. When the driver closed the door behind her, she finally saw who was sitting in front of her. She screamed and propelled herself into his arms.  
“Oh Richard! I missed you so much, Baby!” she cried.  
“Not as much as I missed you, Sweetheart!” he said ruefully, then pulled her into a deep kiss. She melted into his arms and they found themselves rolling around the back seat kissing and groping like teenagers the whole way home. When they finally arrived and the driver knocked on the partition window, they peeled themselves away from each other and Richard helped her out of the limo. He grabbed her smaller bags and carried them upstairs for her.  
“I see you packed light for such a long trip,” he teased as the doorman rolled two steamer trunks behind them.  
“I didn’t know what all I might need, but at least my return trip will be a lot lighter.”  
“Oh? How so?” Richard inquired on the lift up.  
“I plan on leaving most of this here. And next time you come to the states, you can drop some of your things at my place!” Belle answered.  
“I think that’s a perfectly logical thing to do, Sweetheart,” Richard said, leaning down and kissing her cheek.  
“Good, I’m glad you approve!” she replied, squeezing him round the waist. Once her bag were inside the door, Richard thanked his doorman and closed the door. The moment he turned, Belle found herself accosted by his mouth as his hands peeled off her jacket and ran up underneath her thin shirt. She moaned into his mouth as their tongues fought for dominance. Bele had to pull away first.  
“Richard...let me catch my breath. I’m jet-lagged and tired. We have alot of time to do this later on,” Belle breathed. Richard rested his forehead against hers as he held her against him.  
“I’m sorry, Honey. I just missed you so much, and I needed to feel your body against mine,” he replied softly. Belle couldn’t help but smile, she knew how much he had missed her by the number of times they’d had phone sex over the last couple of weeks. However, at the moment, she really was tired from her flight.  
“I know, Baby. But can we get something to eat, then relax first. Especially before I fall down. I had a layover in Atlanta. Have I mentioned how much I hate that airport?”   
“I few hundred times, yes. Come on, let’s get you some food then,” Richard chuckled, pulling her toward the kitchen. He lifted her up and sat her on the counter while he got out something he’d ben saving for her welcome home meal. “How about Italian?”  
“You know I can’t resist Italian, Love. Especially when you cook it!”   
“Good, I’ve got the perfect thing. Some mushroom Risotto, a little spinach and ricotta ravioli, and then your favorite vegetable lasagna with parmesan cream sauce, and for dessert, chocolate mousse!” Belle moaned a little as he listed off the menu items as he prepped them for cooking.   
“And the wine?”  
“A surprise. You’ll have to wait to find out about that!” he grinned.   
“Fine then. Do I have enough time to go shower and change? Atlanta didn’t have the ac on and I sweat like a pig running from one end to the other!”  
“Absolutely, Sweetheart. Go shower and I’ll let you know when dinner’s ready.” Belle pecked him on the lips and hopped down from the counter. She peeled off her clothes and turned on the water in the shower stall while she brushed out her tangled auburn curls. She stepped into the shower and let the hot water beat down on her aching shoulder muscles. Trekking across the Atlanta airport, her carryons slung over her shoulders, and running out of time to catch her flight was a painful experience, even for a normally healthy person, but for her, it was torture. She leaned against the wall of the shower and relaxed into the steam as the shower head massaged her aching muscles with it’s variating pulses of water. A few minutes later, she felt strong arms wrap around her and pull her against a warm body. She turned into Richard’s arms and he caught her lips with his. She’d missed his kisses so very much and in that moment she let him have his way with her as his hands slid all over her body before he pinned her up against the wall as his hand sought her nether lips. She moaned into his mouth as his fingers found their target and began their assault. His mouth worked across her cheek to her ear where he nibbled at the lobe in between whispering naughty things to her about how much he’d missed her before descending on a zigzag pattern down her body, stopping to savour her breasts before continuing down. He lifted one of her legs and slung it over his shoulder before he began his oral assault on her dripping sex. Belle was beyond the moon as Richard brought her to keening, she almost didn't realize he'd stopped until he picked her up and helped her sink onto his raging erection. She gasped and moaned as she gripped his shoulders and rolled her hips against him. Their coupling was sensuous as they made love slowly, relearning each other's bodies and pleasures. The hour went by faster than they had hoped and Richard left Belle to dry off while he went to make sure their dinner wasn't burning and to finish up setting the coffee-table up for their dinner. Belle padded into the kitchen toweling her wet curls and wearing a short purple silk robe.   
"You gonna eat in that towel, or put on some actually clothes?"  
"You're one to talk, exactly what are you wearing under that robe?" Richard said as he slipped a finger under the collar of her robe and brushed against her breast. She shivered and giggled. "Besides, I thought you liked lounging in the nude," he said, kissing her.  
"Oh I do, but aren't you afraid of burning... something? I mean what's to protect the jewels should I do this?" Belle reached for his towel and with a yank, pulled it free of his body.  
"Belle!!" Richard cried. She laughed as she threw it back through the bedroom door. "That was very naughty!"  
"Well, you told me you like your woman naughty, so..." Richard shook his head and laughed.  
"You’re terrible! Lemme go grab some pants, why don't you open the wine," he glanced at the windows and thanked his lucky stars the curtains were drawn. Belle caught him round the waist as he passed her,  
"We can pick up the shower calisthenics after dinner..." she said softly as she nuzzled his cheek, then kissed him. Richard smiled as he kissed her back.  
"Whatever my queen wants!" He whispered back, before continuing on to the bedroom.  
Their dinner was delicious, but sadly Belle fell asleep in Richard’s lap and their lovemaking was postponed until later. He carried her to bed, cleaned up the dinner things, then joined her in bed, happy that she was back with him.   
A total of six monthes had passed since they’d made the decision to separate for awhile. With Belle’s theatre schedule and Richard’s constant back and forths from the UK to the States, they’d seen less and less of each other and Belle couldn’t stand it. She’d rather not see him at all, then see only a few seconds of him before one or the other of them had to leave. And that was all before Belle was assaulted at stage door by a group of women shouting rude names for her and yelling at her to stay away from Richard if she was “gonna screw her cast mates.” Barrowman had been cast as her love interest in the show about a rising star, and they’d been seen several times out and about, which Richard knew about and hadn’t much cared because he trusted Belle and knew Barrowman was married and very much not into women. In fact Richard was happy Belle went out with John because he knew he could trust him to keep her safe since he’d adopted her as a little sister. But then he came home to find Belle had moved out of their flat and was living in a hotel. After the incident at stage door, she knew something had to change. Not only was she thinking only of Richard, but also of his safety. She’d moved out in case someone followed her home. That had happened once or twice during the run of Open Wounds and she didn’t wanna put Rich through that kind of hell worrying about her. And then Belle had received some worrying health news and she’d gone to her director and to Andrew Lloyd Webber himself and told them she need to cut her run short. Ever the loyal supporter, Webber had been concerned when she wouldn’t tell him what was wrong, but still told her she was welcome back any time once she was well. That had been when they officially separated.  
They’d never spoken on the phone, just left a couple voice messages on each other’s mobiles. It was torture for them both and they had quickly realized how stupid it was to have split up in the first place.  
Richard woke to his mobile screaming at him as “Alan” popped up on the Caller ID.   
“Damnit man, it’s too early for this!” he said groggily.  
“It’s 8:30 and you have an audition to get to. So get your ass out of bed and hustle. If you don’t do another audition for a year, you’re gonna do this one. It could very well seal your fate for a good long time!”  
“Is it really that important?!” Richard asked rubbing his face. His thick beard bushed out under his palm and he groaned.  
“Yes, it’s Hobbit important. That’s how important it is!”  
“Damn. Ok, I’m up. Send me the location again will ya,” he said, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.   
“Will do. And make sure you look good, I’ve heard this director is a real hard-ass for decorum on this project,” Alan replied. “Look, I’ gotta run, but I’ll see you afterward for lunch.”  
“Fine, see you then.” Richard hit the end button and rubbed his face once more before propelling himself forward and into a hot shower. Hobbit important was it, then he would just have to charm the pants off them with his dashing good looks and flawless acting. That is if he could muster that kind of thing. Not having his gorgeous sounding board to fall back against and tell him when he sucked made it harder to really get himself interested in anything. He wondered how she was doing as he lathered his face up for the shave.

In the large dance hall, Belle sat at a table with her brother Ben, Steven Spielberg, and their casting agent. She, Steven, and Ben were discussing exactly which scene was the best for the audition of Holmes actors. It had to be just right to really capture how she wanted him portrayed. Casey, the pretty blonde girl that was assisting them that morning, came in with her list of names and resumes for the men assembled outside.   
“Everything’s all set, Ms. Starr, Mr Spielberg,” she said giving Belle a wink.   
“Very good, Casey. Send him in,” she said. She shifted in her chair and pretended to be in deep conversation with the other two men when Richard walked in. His expression as she turned to face him was one of shock mixed with elation, and dread all at the same time.   
“Ah, Mr Armitage. Will you read page 38 please. Ben, read for Watson will you, thanks.” Belle said in a very authoritative manner. If she was playing with him, there were no signs of it on her face, or the faces of the rest of the casting board next to her. “Whenever you’re ready, start with the beginning of the scene.” He nodded. His throat was dry and trying to close on him as he licked his lips trying to settle his churning stomach. Belle kept her eyes on the page. Richard began and he’d barely gotten three lines in when she stopped him.   
“Hold on just a moment, Mr Armitage. I don’t quite think you’re getting the gravitas of the scene,” she said, then paused and rose from her chair. “Come with me.” As she rose, Richard's eyes were graced with the swell of her very large, very round stomach. Had she breathed on him or even turned to look at him, he might have fallen over backwards. Belle was pregnant, heavily so. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling as he followed her to a door that read Green Room. Before she could even close the door behind them, Richard’s lips were on hers, gently at first, then harder and more tender as everything he was feeling welled up in him and threatened to overflow. Belle was startled at first, she hadn’t expected this reaction, but she returned his kisses. After what seemed like an eternity, their lips finally parted as Richard pressed their foreheads together, his hands on her waist.  
“Richard, I…”  
“Shh…” he hushed as he gazed at her lovingly. He took a step back and knelt in front of her, pressing a kiss to the apex of her round belly. “It’s mine, isn’t it?”  
“I wanted to tell you sooner, I just didn’t know how. I’m sorry-” she started, but he cut her off by standing and kissing her tenderly.  
“Look, I’m as surprised you at my own reaction, but somehow I know it’s right. This child is mine and I couldn’t be happier,” he said smiling. Then he saw the apprehension on Belle’s face,  
“How is it that you’re so trusting?”  
“I don’t know. But what I do know if that I’m here for you, no matter what. No matter what you want to do, I-I still love you, I always have, and I will either help you raise this baby or support you to live separately from me,” tears welled up in his eyes as he looked from her face down to the lovely roundness of her middle. He’d wanted a child for so long, especially with her and he prayed and hoped against all hope that she would allow him to be part of his or her life.  
“Richard…,” she covered her mouth with her hand as tears welled up in her own eyes. “I need you...I was so stupid to ever think that a separation would work for us.” He took her in his arms and hugged her as tightly as he dared, lavishing kisses across her cheek and through her curls. “Can you forgive me for being such an idiot?!” she whimpered.  
“Of course I can, My Angel. I hope that means you want me back, that you’ll let me share in the baby’s life?”  
“Yes, of course. I can’t believe I ever had the fleeting thought of not telling you. I should have told you so much sooner! You’re her father and she’ll need you as much as I need you.”  
“It’s a girl? Merciful heavens, a little girl!” he cried, picking her up and swinging her around the room until she gripped his shoulders in protest.  
“Put me down before I get sick! You lovesick fool!” she chided. He laughed and set her down, but not before he kissed her with all the longing he’d saved up those last six monthes.  
“I’ve missed you so much, Sweetheart. I wouldn’t be able to live through another separation like that!”  
“So we’re agreed. We’ll never do that again, right. And we’ll raise our daughter together,” Belle said, still a little unsure of herself more than unsure of Richard.  
“Honey, there’s no getting rid of me now. You’re stuck with me, Girl; Together Forever!” he said, kissing the end of her nose.  
“Good, because you’re stuck with me too!”  
“Perfect!” he whispered as he took her lips with his mouth and kissed her again, long and lovingly as his fingers tangled in her curls.  
“We should get back out there…,” she said, pulling away. She took his hand to lead him back out, but he pulled her back against himself and firmly planted his arm around her waist as they reentered the main hall.  
“I take it this means the family’s back together,” Ben said as they walked back up to the table. “Our little ruse worked?”  
“You bet it did. And I didn’t even have to say anything.”  
“So we can tell him he got the part now, right?” Steven asked. Belle laughed,  
“He always knew he’d have the part if this film ever got off the ground, so yeah, I think you can tell him,” Belle rejoined.  
“Congratulations, Mr Holmes,” Steven said, shaking his hand. “And congratulations on the little one!”  
“Thanks. But I think the baby is by far the best news of the two,” he said, kissing Belle’s curls. The smile on her face and the glassiness of her eyes told the whole story. That was really all that mattered to them both.  
“Come on, you two, lunch is on me,” Ben said slapping Richard on the shoulder.  
“You bet it’s on you, brother. I have to pay all those actors who just sat in the waiting area for a day's work just so we could pull off this little surprise announcement!” Belle replied, leaning down awkwardly to get her purse. Before she could even attempt it however, Richard had grabbed it and swung it over his own shoulder. “That’s a, uh, nice look on you, Sweetheart,” Belle giggled.  
“Thanks,” he said sarcastically. “So this really was all planned? Spielberg too?”  
“Absolutely it was. Steven really is producing the film series, so yes, it was a given that he’d need to be here. But the audition, Alan, the guys waiting in front of you, that was all planned.”  
“What would you have done if this hadn’t ended the way it did?” Belle stopped and glared at him.   
“Brother, you’d be six feet under by tomorrow morning in all probability,” Ben said. “Those are the eyes of murder,” he said, pointing to Belle.  
“And not to mention that if the Army found out, they probably would have murdered you too…” Belle smiled sweetly. “As much as I loathe the idea of having to mourn your death, it would have been inevitable in this situation. But Ben was more positive than I was about you being happy about the baby. I think it came from his fatherly perspective.” Richard tweaked her nose with a grin.  
“He was right. I can’t tell you how happy you’ve made me. If Alan hadn’t called this morning, I was actually going to call you and beg you to meet me somewhere, anywhere, just so I could beg you on my hands and knees to come back into my life,” he said, running a finger underneath her chin.  
“Maybe I should just leave you two alone…” Ben started.  
“No, you already said you were buying lunch, now buy lunch, cuz this baby and her mother needs to eat, I’m starving!” Belle said, frowning.  
“Whatever, Her Worshipfulness wants!” her brother replied, bowing slightly.  
“You’re damn right it’s whatever my girls want!” Richard laughed punching Ben in the arm, “Now lead the way, Princess.” Belle giggled and headed down the street to a little Italian place that she and Richard had been to after several nights of Phantom.   
“I coulda told you she’d pick this place!” Richard chuckled.  
“Watch it, Armitage, or you may find yourself sleeping on the couch tonight!” Belle warned playfully.   
“Who said I was sleeping at your place, eh?” he retorted just as jovially.   
“Her place, your place, either way, you’ll still be on the couch!” Ben commented. They all three laughed as they entered the restaurant.   
That night Richard was more than happy to sleep wherever Belle wanted him to, just so long as he knew they were finally back together. She lay tucked into his front, his arms wrapped around her.  
“Rich, you asleep?”  
“No, what’s wrong?”  
“Nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to make sure you were actually still here. I dreamed about this so many times I was beginning to think this was a dream too,”  
“I’m here, Baby. And I’m not going anywhere. Together Forever, remember,” he whispered against her hair. She smiled as she nuzzled his arm wrapped around her shoulders.  
“I’m glad I didn’t have to fight to get you back. I think it might have broken me completely to be rejected again,” she said softly.  
“Aww, Honey. I wouldn’t make you fight. In fact I would fight for you, I always will. For you and our little girl. I would fight Satan himself for you two, that’s how much I love you,” he said pointedly. He dropped gentle kisses across her shoulder. “I swear to you, I will never let anything come between us ever again. You have my permission to kick the shit out of me if I do.” Belle laughed out loud and hugged his arms around her.  
“Good, and you have my permission to have Ben hold me upside down over Times Square if I ever balk away from you again,” she replied.  
“I would never let him do that, but I might force you to look over the railing at the Marriott Marquis…” he whispered back. Belle jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, “Or not!”   
Firmly back together and settled in a larger apartment in the same building as Rich’s old flat, Belle delivered a healthy baby girl and promptly swore to never again go through natural childbirth. Margaret Aurora Armitage quickly became the light of her parent’s eyes as Richard spent whatever time he could with her and Belle, doing whatever needed be done. The stark contrast between his parenting and Scott’s often had Belle wiping her eyes as her joy spilled over. Meg had her father’s brilliant blue eyes that Richard swore would never change and her mother’s auburn curls and sweet pouty lips. Belle considered it lucky that her mother had been able to see her granddaughter before she’d passed away in her sleep. They were unpacking the kitchen when Belle’s mobile had rung. It had been Cali. Richard was just lifting Meg up from her nap when he saw the paleness on Belle’s face.  
“Honey, what is it!?” he asked. Tears were already falling as a hand shot to her mouth and she began sobbing as the phone fell from her other hand. “Hello? Cali?” he asked. He listened as Cali cried through the news that their mother had passed quite unexpectedly the night before. He waited as she put Dani on the line and they discussed what needed to be done and how quickly they could get to Orlando for the funeral. Richard called his mother to help with Meg and tried his best to comfort Belle in her grief. He held her as she cried all the way through the flight and the funeral and back home. Her mother had been her best friend and even though she’d had her sisters, she’d always have that empty space in her heart that her mother had always filled. Once they were home she refused to relinquish her hold on Meg, almost to the point of sleeping on the sofa with the baby lying on her chest. It took quite a long time for Belle to get over the loss of her mother and Richard made it his mission to make sure she was never alone. Loss of what she loved was her greatest fear and he knew it and promised himself that no matter what he had to do, she wouldn’t be left alone because he knew it might just end her.


	5. Chapter 5

The day they’d gotten home from her mother’s funeral, Belle and Richard had been called into her doctor. Belle was pregnant again. Not too long later, Richard had proposed to Belle during the Oscars acceptance speech for her Holmes film as Best Picture, and she had been forced to tearfully and speechlessly nod yes. They were married in a lovely little 1930s themed wedding at her ChorusLineClub, which had been officiated by Ian.   
Four years later, Meg was happily settled with Richard’s parents and Chris’ family for their annual All Hallows Eve party, which was perfect because it would allow Belle time to rest in her very heavily eight monthes pregnant state. It was Halloween and Belle felt like the bad spirits had it in for her personally. She’d been in bed all day with a massive headache, backache, and a strange pain in her groin that was slowly getting worse. Belle heard the front door open and close and the sound of her husband dropping his keys and plastic bags on the table.   
“Belle, honey, are you getting ready to go?” She was going to call back to him, but the pain in her groin shot up through her stomach and all she could do was groan. Even with her vision getting blurry, she could see Richard’s silhouette come into the doorway before he flipped on the light. “Honey, why are the lights off?” Belle had just enough time to fling her arm over her face before the offending light accosted her already pained eyes. She groaned as another pain ripped through her body.  
“Call...hospital...something’s wrong!” Richard raced to her side, whipping out his phone from the pocket of his Tenth Doctor overcoat, as he knelt next to the bed.  
“Hang on, Baby...Yes, I need an ambulance, my wife’s eight monthes pregnant and something’s wrong...No, I don’t think it’s labor, she’s...oh God, she’s bleeding bad,” he had pulled back the covers to pick her up, but seeing blood, had stopped in his tracks. “No, no, I won’t move her...Stay with me, Honey, ya here me! They’re almost here…”  
Belle could hear his voice and feel his hand squeezing hers, but the pain was so intense she felt like she was going to pass out. Labor with Meg was nothing compared to this. A few moments later, or so it seemed, the emergency personnel were lifting her onto a gurney and taking her out of the apartment and into the ambulance. Richard was there the whole time, holding her hand and talking to her, trying to keep to her calm and reassured. But the reassurance wasn’t exactly working for her. The pain was unbearable and she was sure she’d die,  
“Please...save my babies…” she cried. She tried to look for Richard’s face but her vision was too blurry, “I’m sorry…I’luv you…” then she slipped into oblivion.   
“Belle?! No! Please don’t leave me! Please, you have to save her and the babies...I can’t...I can’t live without her…” Richard pleaded, fairly crushing her hand in his as he held it to his lips, praying every prayer he could think of. He’d barely had time to send a text to Dani that read “911-Belle.” He hoped she’d understand the meaning, at least she would when she arrived at the flat and found that both of them were gone.  
When they arrived at the hospital, Belle’s doctor, Brighton, was already there and he started giving orders and hands pulled Richard away from his wife. When they finally released him all he could do was sink down in a chair, crying and praying as he stared at the doors the doctor had taken Belle through. Twenty minutes later Dani arrived. Half an hour later, his mother, Chris and Emma arrived. His father had stayed behind to watch the kids. Richard was beside himself, he had no clue what to do, other than plead with God to let his wife and babies stay alive. Two hours later, the doctor came out to see him.  
“Mr. Armitage...Richard…”  
“Belle?!” his voice was trembling.   
“She’s alive, as are the twins. We fought a battle in there, but she pulled through. The twins are in the nursery if you want to see them, and they need names-”  
“My wife-I need to see…” he choked on the words.  
“She’s asleep, but we’ve got her in an CCU room. She’s going to sleep for awhile, while we have her sedated, but if you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to her,” Doctor Brighton replied. When the family all started to follow him, he held up a hand. “Only one at a time until we get her moved to a bigger room, please.” Richard moved to follow the doctor, but his knees nearly gave out, and Dani grabbed his arm to keep him upright as she looked to Margaret.  
“You go first, sweetie. She’s your sister,” Margaret said. Dani nodded and with an arm around Richard’s shoulders, they followed the doctor to Belle’s room. Richard choked back a sob when he saw her hooked up to so many machines.  
“My Angel…” he whispered, taking her hand and holding it up to his lips as he cried all over again. “Please come back to me, My Love, please!” he pleaded softly with her as he leaned over her to kiss her forehead and smooth back her hair. He would die right along with her if she were never to wake up. And he was sure he could never hold the twins if he lost her, it would be far too painful.  
“She looks like she’s just sleeping. She’s gonna pull through, Richard, she has to. She’s too stubborn and in love to leave you like this. You should go see the babies…”  
“I can’t, Dani...I can’t leave her like this…” he cried softly. Still clinging to Belle’s hand. Dani nodded,   
“I’ll leave you with her then. But we’re here if you need anything,” she said. Richard nodded, his eyes never leaving Belle’s face. Dani returned to the family and Doctor Brighton stepped into the room, sliding the glass door closed.  
“Richard, I need to speak with you, now that you’re alone.”  
“Yes? It’s worse than you said, isn’t it?” Richard replied, tearing his eyes away from his wife’s face, but never letting go of her hand.  
“I’m afraid it is. She has pre-eclampsia. It should have corrected itself when the twins were finally born, but it’s not. Her organs are trying to shut down. She could wake, or she could not, we don’t know either way just yet.” Almost as soon as he’d said that, Belle’s eyelashes fluttered and she moved her hand slightly in Richard’s hand before starting to convulse. As eardrum shattering alarms went off, Brighton hit the blue button on the wall behind the bed and a litany of nurses came scrambling in, pushing Richard away from his wife.  
“What’s happening? Is she alright?” Richard pleaded with someone to answer him, hearing things like “she’s tachycardic”, “her pressure’s tanking”, and the worse “we’re losing her” before he was forced out of the room. Brighton and his team worked quickly, pushing drugs into her IV and shocking her heart back into rhythm before the alarms stopped going off. Once she was again lying still with a regular heartbeat and blood pressure, Brighton exited the room to speak with her husband.   
“I’m going to order a medically induced coma until she levels out. Hopefully in that time we can get her organ function back up. I’m not going to lie to you, Richard. She’s not doing well and there’s still a chance that she may lose this battle. You need to talk to her, she needs to know you’re fighting for her too,” he put a hand on Richard’s shoulder and pushed him gently down into a chair by the glass door before he fell down. “Once she’s under, we’ll move her to a private room and bring the babies in. Maybe if you hold them, or lay them next to her, her vitals will improve, it’s been known to happen in cases like this. Either way, you need to take responsibility for your newborns or you could lose them too, without the love and attention they need just as much as your wife.”  
“I-I can’t...not without her...I can’t…” Richard sobbed.  
“Listen to me, Armitage. That woman in there and your infants need you. Suck it up and fight for them instead of sitting here feeling sorry for yourself. You’re no help to them in your current state,” Brighton said harshly, his hand a vice grip on Richard’s shoulder. “This is not the time for grief, it’s time for anger. So get up, go in there, and fight for your wife!” Richard didn’t know what to say or do, he just stared up at him, his blue eyes rimmed in red. He took a deep breath and shakily stood before turning towards the door. With a hand on the handle, he paused,  
“I’m sorry...she’s my lifeline, without her...I’m lost…”  
“Then tell her that, son,” his mother said from behind the doctor. Brighton turned to regard the older Mrs Armitage and nodded at her. “Go on, get in there,” she pressed. Richard nodded and went in, pulling a chair up to Belle’s bedside.  
“Belle, sweetheart...I don’t know if you can hear me, but...I need you to fight this...I need you to come back to me. I’m right here with you and I’m not going to leave you. Please...Meg and I need you...and the twins...Rose and Ryan, they need their mother, just as I need my wife…” his voice broke as he held her hand and all he could do was kiss her wrist where her pulse beat faintly. “Please come back to me...I’m lost without you, Love, and I don’t know what to do without you. You’re my world and my heart...I-I…” There were so many emotions swirling within him that he had no idea what else to say. He wanted to punch something, or throw something through a window. “Don’t you dare leave me and our children alone! You can’t do that to us...You cannot die, I forbid you!” All he wanted in that moment was to see her smile again. He wanted to hold her to him and will his life into her if nothing else would work.”Please baby…” A few hours later, his mother put a hand on his shoulder. It was time to move to a private room, so the babies could be with their mother. Richard refused to let go of Belle’s hand the entire way, he would have wrapped her body in his if he could have gotten away with it. Once settled in their new room Margaret and Dani sat on the couch, each holding a baby in their arms. Margaret had Rose and Dani had taken Ryan, softly cooing to them until a nurse came in and suggested they lay each infant next to Belle’s head, hoping that it might help them in some small way. That was the first time Richard had even seen the newborns. Rose was the first one to open her eyes as she lay there on her mother’s shoulder and Richard had to stifle a little laugh when she discovered him staring back at her and gave him a look of incredulity, her eyes sparkling as she yawned at him.  
“You should see how beautiful your babies are, Sweetheart. Only Meg could have been cuter when she was born. Such gorgeous little angels, wanting their mummy to wake up and see them. They’re absolutely beautiful, My Love.”

Outside in the hall, Margaret pulled Dani to the side.   
“Will you stay with him tonight? I don’t think he should be alone and I need to go back home with Chris to make sure Meg is ok. I think she needs to know what’s going on with her mother, but I’m not sure how to tell her, and all the phone calls that need to be made…”  
“Don’t worry about that, I’ll take care of it. You just go home and be with Meg, I know how hard this is going to be on her.” Dani replied, “Maybe you should consider bringing her up to meet her new siblings tomorrow. I think Richard could use the company, and she knows just how to make him smile.”  
“I agree,” Margaret nodded. “I just don’t know how we’re going to tell her about her mother’s condition.”  
“I think that if she see’s Belle like this, and Richard realizes what’s going through her head, he might just have the perfect way to explain it to her. You know how his girls work their magic on him.”  
“Yes, that I do. Thank you, Sweetheart. My prayers will be with you all tonight. See you tomorrow,” Margaret said, squeezing Dani’s arm as she turned to go.   
“Bye,” Dani replied. She took a deep breath and went back into the room to check on Richard and the babies. When a nurse came to change the twins and put them back in their bassinets, Richard finally got up from his chair just to take a picture of the babies. He stood there and studied them for what seemed like eons to him, just taking in everything about them. They were beautiful. Rose and Ryan both looked like her mother, but Rose had his dark hair with Belle and Meg’s profuse curl, or at least what he thought would be curls, and Ryan’s was shockingly red, like Meg’s, only with slightly less curl. They were beautiful, and he prayed that knowing they were alive and well would help bring his wife back to her old self. Ever since Belle’s mother’s death, not a day before they found out they were expecting twins, Richard spent every day with her. He took less work and did what he could from home just so he could be with her and help her in whatever way she needed. Since he’d only found out about Meg six monthes into the pregnancy, he vowed to her that he would spend every day making up for that this time around. The few hours he wasn’t with her, he prayed constantly that she was safe, healthy, cared for by Dani, or whoever happened to be staying with her, and he’d be damned if he was going to stop that now that she’d given birth. Especially now that she was in such critical condition.   
Dani made all the necessary calls and sat with Richard the entire night, forcing him to at least nibble on something. Dani had always been a little superstitious and with the twins being born on Halloween, she was worried that maybe that didn’t have something to do with Belle’s situation. Belle had never had the best of luck in her life and she was fond of telling her friends, family, and anyone else that would listen that the best things to happen to her where Richard and their daughter. She prayed right along with Richard that she’d wake up to realize yet another of her blessings. Dani knew what losing Belle would mean for Richard. She’d seen two close friends go through the same thing and she realized how devastating it was for the partner left behind. With Richard it would be no different, but he had three children now to care for, something neither of the other couples had to deal with. She couldn’t bear to see them drift apart if Belle were to die. It would break Richard, and it could kill the twins.   
The month of November passed and no one in the family celebrated Thanksgiving. Instead they all took turns staying with Richard in Belle’s hospital room. A week before everyone arrived, Richard had decided that he wanted to do something special for Belle for Christmas. So he had Dani and Ben help him work on his project. Even though she was young, Meg did all she could to help her father with the babies and with talking to her Mummy. She would tell her story every night before going home to grandmumma’s to “sleep over” as she liked to call it. She even started decorating her room for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. Finally Belle started to get better. She had stabilized to breath on her own and no longer required extra monitoring in case of another episode. Her doctors believed it was time to bring her out of the medically induced coma. They suspended the heavy sedative and told the family to wait. And wait they did. Everyday, all the way up until Christmas Eve.   
Belle had always loved Christmas and Meg had inherited that same love. Every day since the beginning of December Meg would climb up beside her mother, lay her little head on her shoulder and whisper, “Wake up, Mumma. It time fo Cwitmas!” Finally late in the evening as Richard sat reading The Night Before Christmas to Meg, “Papa” Timothy came to bring her a special present.   
“Isn’t it time for all good little girls to be in bed so Santa can come and sprinkle their dreams with sugarplum fairies and snowflake swirls?!” he said, whispering in Meg’s ear.   
“Papa Tim! Papa Tim!” Meg cried. “Are you Santa Claus?!” she asked, standing in her father’s lap as she cocked her head to the side and surveyed his outfit of green shirt, red velvet vest, and Santa Hat, a small red velvet sack thrown over his shoulder.   
“Maybe I am! I do have some special gifts for you, your brother and sister, and most especially your Mummy! Come give us a kiss and I’ll show you.” Richard finally smiled a heartfelt smile as Meg climbed down and kissed Timothy on both cheeks.   
“Jus ‘a menet…” Meg said. She climbed up on Belle’s bed and put her face to Mummy’s cheek, “You gotta wake up, Mumma. Santa-uh Papa Tim bwough’tu Cwitmas pesent! He bwought um fo me and de bebehs too!” She kissed her mother’s cheek and held her hands up for Timothy to pick her up. He gathered her up in his arms and hugged her tight, taking her over to the couch and setting her in his lap.   
“Now let’s see what Papa Tim’s got in his bag for Princess Meg, shall we?” he said. Meg nodded emphatically. Out of the velvet bag he pulled out a lovely doll dressed as a winter queen. Meg ooh’d and ah’d over it as she very gently ran her little hands over the velvet dress, luxurious hair and fur cape.  
“She so pwiddy, Papa! Tain'tu so much!” she said, lifting up and planting a wet kiss on his lips.  
“You are so welcome, Princess. Now why don’t you sit here and play quietly with your doll while I speak with your Daddy, Sweetness,” Timothy said. Kissing her forehead and lifting her to sit beside himself. Meg was preoccupied with her doll and only nodded in assent. Timothy rose and pulled an envelope out of the bag, setting the bag beside the couch for later.   
“You didn’t have to do that, ya know. But thank you. Meg needs something to be happy about right now. Mum said she cried all last night because her Mumma wasn’t awake yet,” Richard said, his voice tight in his throat.  
“I know, Margaret told me. But I have my reasons for doing this tonight. This is the present I brought for Belle. It’s something you’ve been looking for. Read it and I’ll explain everything afterward. You know I’ve known Belle since her first big role. She was just a young thing then, but she’s always been special to me. Even more so now...Read that…” Timothy said, waving Richard to read the envelope as he turned to gaze at Belle’s pale face, his eyes growing misty. Richard watched him a moment as Timothy smoothed a stray curl back from her forehead, then leaned over and kissed her gently on the forehead. Even Ian hadn’t done that, and he loved her like family, he’d presided at their wedding. Ian hadn’t even wanted to see her in the hospital, he’d seen the twins in the family room, but couldn’t handle the idea of sweet Belle hooked up to machines and had left with red rimmed eyes without even seeing Richard, sending his regrets through Amanda and Martin.   
Richard took the envelope and sat down to read it. Inside he found original birth certificates, documents of adoption, and a letter from Belle’s birth mother. He rubbed his face as he read the letter. It detailed her mother Claire’s relationship with Timothy Dalton and how after they’d agreed to separate, she’d discovered herself pregnant. Only when she’d gone to Timothy and told him six monthes into the pregnancy, he was already in another relationship with someone else and didn't believe the child was his. Claire had put Belle up for adoption and agreed to never see Timothy again. Richard felt like he’d been punched in the gut. How close had he and Belle come to that exact situation four years ago. He rubbed his face as he looked over the documents again.  
“You’re her birth father?” Richard asked softly, still in shock. Timothy nodded,  
“I am. While she’s been here, I asked her doctor to do a paternity test just to be sure. But I asked that it be kept a secret until we were sure. I received the results this morning.” He was silent a few moments, looking at Belle, “Why was I ever stupid enough to reject Claire and this beautiful girl! Her mother was the only woman I’ve ever truly loved completely...” he bemoaned, more to himself than to Richard.   
“Because you weren’t sure. Do you remember when she was pregnant with Meg?” Tim nodded. “I almost made the same mistake. But something about whatever bond she and I have, no pun intended, won out and I realized that I would be nothing without her. She really is my everything.” Richard smiled, his hand caressing Belle’s cheek. “I’m glad she has you. You have no idea how much this means to me.” Timothy nodded. Belle’s eyelashes fluttered and her hand twitched in Richard’s. ”Belle?!”  
“Rich…?” her voice was barely audible and raspy from being dry and having a tube down it for so long.   
“Baby!” Relief washed over Richard and he could have passed out from happiness. There were tears in his eyes, “I thought I’d lost you…”  
“I thought you had too,” Belle’s eyes filled with tears.   
“Don’t you ever do that to us again, Sweetheart. You hear me?!” Timothy said.  
“I’ll try not to,” she replied.  
“I’ll go get the nurse,” Timothy said. He had to hold back a sob of relief as he left the room.  
“Mumma?!” Meg said from the couch. She dropped her doll and came running around to Richard who lifted her up and onto the bed.  
“Gentle, sweetheart. Mumma’s very weak and probably very sore still,”  
“Hey there, BabyGirl! I missed your sweet face!” Belle said, lifting her arm and wrapping it around her daughter as she clung to her crying.  
“I mist’u too!...Mumma!!” she cried.  
“Aww, it’s ok, Sweetness. Mumma’s right here and I’m not going anywhere. Now dry your tears and give us a kiss. I’m alright now!” Meg lifted her head and planted wet kisses all over her mother’s face, sniffling and trying to dry her tears. “Did you help Daddy take care of the twins while I was asleep?”  
“I did. Dey was good too!” Meg smiled. “Dey small, but dey sweet!” Richard laughed at his adorable daughter.  
“That’s right, they are sweet, and oh so precious. C’mon Princess, let Mummy rest now, ok.”   
“Ok Deddy.” Richard picked her up again and shooed her back to the couch.  
“Are they precious, Darling? I want to see them...please,” Belle said as the nurse came in with Dr Brighton in tow.  
“Well, our sleeping beauty has awakened. Splendid. Happy Christmas!”  
“Christmas?! Was I really asleep that long?!”  
“Unfortunately yes. We almost lost you several times,” Brighton said, lowering his voice. “We had to sedate you when the eclampsia set in, but you fought hard. So did your husband.”  
“I think I remember hearing him say something about fighting. But I can’t be sure. I can’t believe the twins are already two monthes old and I missed it!” Belle said, dejectedly.  
“It’s alright, Honey. You’ve got plenty of time to see them grow,” Richard reassured her. The nurse sat the bed up a little so when Margaret and Dani brought the babies in she could hold them. Brighton was pleased with her recovery, and if she continued this way, she could go home in two days.  
“Nothing like spending Christmas in the hospital!” Belle said as she held the twins in her lap, Rose’s little fist wrapped tightly around Ryan’s. They were wrapped like little packages each in a red and green blanket, Rose with a giant red hairbow headband that matched Meg’s.  
“You tink Santa know we here?! Wut if he fogot pwesents?!”  
“He didn’t forget any presents! He just left them at our house, Sweetpea!” John Armitage said as he brought in a big bag, followed by Timothy carrying another big bag, then the rest of the family: Chris, Emma, Colin, Kate, Cali, Josh, Gideon, Lily, Sam, and Ben.   
“We decided that we’d do Christmas presents here with you, Love,” Margaret said as she came over to the bed and picked up a fussy Ryan. “Oh goodness, you need to be changed. C’mon little one and let’s get you cleaned up!”  
“She loves doting on them, doesn’t she!” Belle remarked to her husband.  
“She certainly does. I believe it’s because Ryan reminds her of me at that age,” he chuckled.   
“Merry Christmas!” Ben said, clapping Richard on the back. Rich hugged his brother-in-law back before moving to let him see his sister.”Hey, Sis. I missed you!” Ben said, leaning over to kiss her, “I’m so glad you’re back with us,” he smiled at her. “And you too, Miss Rosie Posie! Fran and the kids cannot wait to see you guys again when you get back to the states. You know how she loves babies!”  
“Do I ever!” Belle laughed.  
“But what mother doesn’t?!” Richard said, nodding over to his mum changing Ryan while Cali and Emma occupied Ryan’s hands.  
“Yup, typical mothers!” Ben laughed right back, then moved to help John and Timothy pass out presents. Chris was already trying to wrangle the kids to settle down, which was a feat in and of itself.   
“I love our family!” Belle smiled as Rose wiggled in her lap.  
“So do I...But you know what I love more?!” Richard said.  
“I have no idea…” Belle said, smirking at him. Richard sat down beside her on the bed and wrapped an arm around both of his girls.  
“I love you so much more, My Angel. I would have been utterly lost without you, My Heart,” he said softly so only she could hear, before leaning over and kissing her tenderly on the lips. He kissed her once more on the forehead before she laid her head on his shoulder and sighed happily.   
“I pray I never have to go through a similar situation,” she breathed.   
The rest of the day was spent unwrapping presents and just spending time with their family, until most everyone left leaving Belle, Richard and Timothy left in the room.   
“I have one more present for you, Sweetheart,” he pulled Timothy’s envelope from under her pillow. “I wanted to get you something very special for Christmas because I knew you would wake up for your favorite holiday,”  
“I almost waited too late, didn’t I!” Belle laughed.  
“No, you were right on time. Anyway, it turns out Timothy had something to do with it too. I succeeded in finding the perfect present, and here it is,” he said, handing her the envelope.  
“Honey, I don’t need another Christmas present from you. Just waking up to see the family’s happy faces was enough of one for me. But I’ll oblige you.” she smiled up at him. Belle opened the envelope to find the documents and letter Richard had already read, only this time a picture fell out of the envelope. She picked it up and looked at it. It was of Timothy and a redheaded woman that looked very much like Belle.   
“I don’t understand…” Belle said, utterly confused.  
“I wanted to give you your birth parents for Christmas,” Richard said, watching her scan the documents with her eyes as realization dawned across her face.  
“Oh my God!” she breathed, covering her mouth with a hand. She read the letter through, then reread the documents before looking to Timothy. “You’re my real father?!...How is that even possible...all these years we've known each other without even knowing!”  
“I’d suspected it for sometime now. The moment I first saw you, it was like seeing your mother all over again. When she told me she was expecting you, I rejected her. When Ben told me about the birth certificate that he’d found, in your parent’s things, I knew immediately. That’s your mother Claire,” Timothy pointed to the photo. “You look so much like her, I couldn’t help but love you. She was the only woman I ever truly, completely loved with all my heart. I just wish we’d figured this out sooner, my sweet daughter.” His eyes filled with tears. Belle reached for him and pulled him into a tight hug.  
“Dad…” she cried. “...I love you so much, and I always have…” she whispered as he held her.  
“Happy Christmas, sweetheart. I love you too!” Timothy whispered back, before pulling out of her arms. “Now, you should rest. You’ve had a long overly exciting day and we’ll have plenty of time to talk. I’ll see you tomorrow, Love.” he said. He rose and kissed her forehead, then shook Richard’s hand and left for the night.  
“Rich...thank you so much. That really was the perfect Christmas present. I love you so much!” she said as Richard moved to lie beside her on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her sweetly.  
“And I love you more than life itself, but you knew that already.” His smirk made her giggle and she snuggled into his arms.  
“Oh no! I don’t have a present for you!” she suddenly cried.  
“Hush, Love. I don’t need another one. You and the twins are all the presents I need, and you’ve made me happier than anything ever could, My Love. Now sleep!” Richard said.  
“Yes Dear…”


End file.
